


Star Wars: The Princess and the Slave

by Captain_Kiri_Storm



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gladiators, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Badass Leia Organa, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Jackass Han Solo sue me, Luke Is So Done, Luke Skywalker is too nice for this, M/M, Past Abuse, Power Imbalance, Smuggler Han Solo, Star Wars - Freeform, slave!Boba
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-01-07 10:50:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 46
Words: 57,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12231339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Kiri_Storm/pseuds/Captain_Kiri_Storm
Summary: Leia went to Tatooine to see if Jabba the Hutt would be willing to give aide to the Rebellion.Not to pick up a surly, silent, bad tempered slave. But she did and now she has to deal with him. It would be easier if he would actually talk to her, but it seems that Fett either can't talk or had it beaten out of him. He's silent, foul tempered, and generally looks like he knows five ways to kill her with a piece of string and a toothbrush.Boba had no choice in going with the princess.He doesn't care about the Rebellion, or the Empire, or anything other than just getting it over with. Owners usually only want two things with a slave and there isn't much for him to do other than look scary. Boba just wants the other shoe to drop so he can stop being nervous all the time.This is either a train wreck in the making or the greatest love story since Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala Naberrie.





	1. What Was I Thinking?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FettsOnTop (GTFF)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GTFF/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Random Boba Fett/Leia Organa Prompts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11289345) by [FettsOnTop (GTFF)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GTFF/pseuds/FettsOnTop). 



Watching men fight to the death was never a past time Leia wanted to have. She could never understand the allure of the pit fights. Never had, never would. Nor could she understand the mentality that allowed you to own another human being. Bail and Breha had raised her right--she had been taught that all life was special and that sentients deserved to be free. If that argument could be applied to a Wookie, she was reasonably sure that it could be applied to the surly man sitting on her bed. He had his arms crossed and hazel eyes went straight into her blue ones. His face looked like it could have been carved from granite, it was so hard. Not for the first time, Leia wondered if she had gotten in over her head.

"You're assuming that Jabba is going to sell me." The only evidence that he maybe wanted this was the slight tightening of his jaw. Or maybe that was her imagination, because this man looked like he wanted to kill her. And she didn't blame him. He had so blithely put it out there that he was at her command and he could be told to do _anything_ and he would obey. That included her ordering him into her bed. Not that Leia could trust him. The way he had sliced down the other fighters was effortless--it was clear that the man was a trained killer. "You assume that because he fought me without stop. You also assume that he will be bought off by a few credits and the promise of more. Is that right?"

"Judging by the way he acted towards the Lirians I saw, yeah. That's about right." Leia slowly reached for her blaster. She was tired, she wanted a shower, and the bed was way too plush to be anything **but** sinful, but she didn't trust the tawny skinned man as far as she could throw him. Leia set her jaw. "He doesn't want you anymore and I guess that it's better for you to die--"

"If he wanted me dead, I would have been in the Sarlacc Pit by now." Boba didn't move, didn't even blink. It was like he had accepted that his fate was going to be death in this dustbowl of a planet and he just didn't care anymore. It reminded Leia of a smuggler friend of Han's, a man named Bats. She shook her head and forced herself to focus on the man sitting on her bed. His legs were tucked up under him, but he was coiled like a snake ready to strike. Leia had no doubt that he could have leapt forward and choked the life out of her within seconds. This wasn't one of her father's friendly guards. This man had been a slave since he was a small child. He had possibly been killing since he was his early teens. The only way he knew was killing. And why did she want to remove this man from this hell hole?

Oh, yeah. Because now she could put a name to his face. This man's name was Boba Fett and he was a pit fighter. A slave, and his life was on the tether hooks. Maybe he didn't see it, but she did.

"So you either die a painful death or I can bring you back to Coruscant with me." Leia looked him straight in the eye. He cocked his head a little, curious. That was good. She hoped he was willing to at least listen to her. "I have friends in high places. I can work on manumitting you, Boba. Get the paperwork through to the right people and you can be free. Or you could stat around a little bit and I could help you get back on your feet. Again, it's your choice. I'm not making you do anything here."

Boba leaned back a little. He wasn't quite rested on the head board, but he looked like he was thinking. Maybe. She could hope. Leia grimaced a little as the seconds ticked by. Who was she kidding?! This man was a trained killer and the last thing she needed to do was bring him to the Senate so he could go bat shit crazy and kill a bunch of people. He looked at her again with his hard, dark eyes. "If I go with you and play body guard, would I get paid for it?"

"And I would buy armor for you. As long as I got to take it in the Senate building. So no flame throwers, I'm afraid."

"Damn." He actually looked disappointed and gave her a...was that a half smile? Good. Maybe she was getting somewhere. "That's the best part. And rocket launchers are probably banned, too..." Boba sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. He did seem like he was at least thinking about it. The man had a wistful expression on his face, too. "I always wanted Mandalorian armor like my _buir_ had. Jabba took it, of course, and said that would be payment for any money my father owed him." He gave Leia a tired look. "Something about him not paying for usage of a private datacore. I think it's a load of bantha poodoo, because armor like that... it was worth more than this dustbowl."

"If I can find you Mandalorian armor, I will try to get it." Leia looked at him. He looked right back. He was tensed up, like he wanted to flee, but he was holding his ground. This man had nerves of steel! If only Shara Bey could get her fighter pilots to have nerves like this man did... Boba probably had some issues, though, and she was going to look into private therapy for him. Something designed to help former slaves with their problems. Boba, for his part, did lean back. "You're free to go, you know. Unless you want to talk a little more...?"

He snorted. "If I go out now, I'm gonna get jumped by the guards and the last thing I want is to owe you several thousand for bacta." Boba gave her a little bit of a look. "Look, princess, this is a half assed plan if I have ever heard of one, but I'll take the bait." He stood up and grabbed two pillows and a blanket off the bed. "You go get your shower and I'll go to sleep on the floor. Just like a karking _good boy_." The way he had said, the way he spat those last two words, made Leia take a step back. Just what had she gotten herself into?

"You don't have to sleep on the floor," Leia mumbled. She stepped back from him and held up her hands. Why did she think this was such a good idea? All it was going to do was explode in her face. The last thing she needed was to get Boba killed, too.

Boba just scowled at her as she grabbed the towels. "I give it a week."

"What?"

"I give it a week before you're just like the others," he snarled and pointedly turned his back.


	2. Too Good to Be True

His entire body ached.

The last Cathar had pounded his ribs, all but shredding them in his attempt to kill the human. And Boba had to hand it to that species: they were tough and they knew how to fight. Fighting and killing were usually the first two things any Cathar kit learned from the dam. That one hadn't been any different. It had rushed at him, sliced his skin with it's claws, and literally round house kicked him in the chest. The cheap shit that Jabba called "armor" had been little more than the plasticoid crap they used on stormtroopers--it looked pretty, but it was beyond useless. The "armor" had splintered on impact and actually transferred most of the brute force into _Boba_. He probably had at least two broken ribs. They ached every damn time he took a breath.

The bed was soft. The bed felt like it wouldn't stab him every time he rolled over or took a breath. If it felt good under his _shebs_ , it would likely feel good under the rest of him. He was hungry, too. Boba had missed dinner thanks to the fact that this princess had called for him. That meant that he had to stand under a broken pipe that gushed semi-clean cold water, try to get the mop he called his hair washed out, shave, dodge the freaking Gammoreans who thought that humans made wonderful frip toys, and find his way here. Only to find out that this princess wanted to talk to him. And was offering to take him off world. Boba wanted to snort and ask what she was smoking. It was clearly good stuff and if he could source it, it would get his "debt" cleared in about a week. Boba knew his _buir_ hadn't used any half-assed datacore that Jabba owned and Jabba knew that Boba knew.

He still used the debt as a reason for keeping Boba as his pet gladiator.

Boba was in a touchy enough mood that he decided he was going to frip being a slave and he was going to rest his aching self on the bed. The princess could deal with it. If she hadn't already slapped him for his thinly veiled threats, she probably wasn't going to slap him. That, or she would order her peons to whip him. The princess seemed to be the type that didn't like to get her hands dirty. Some dumbass from Coruscant or Corellia who thought that the accent meant she owned the galaxy. He really did give it about a week before she started to turn. There was a saying about power: absolute power corrupted absolutely. Boba had seen better beings than that princess be seduced by owning a slave.

Someone threw a basic medical kit beside him. Boba cut eyes up at the princess and gave her a dry look. What did she want him to do? He couldn't read minds, kriff dammit! She had to tell him what she wanted, otherwise he didn't know and he didn't care to know. Boba just leaned back. The young woman was easy on the eyes. If he had too, he could probably get it up without the pills you got from the Twi'leks. He hadn't jacked himself up on stims (he honestly expected this to be a male, not a female), so that would make things difficult. Add to the fact that his ribs felt like they were stabbing him every single freaking time he drew in a breath and Boba could see that he would be useless if she wanted pleasure.

Maybe she had a point about the Sarlacc pit. Ten thousand years of torture or the hell he was living in right now? He could take his pick.

"You were holding your ribs." She sat beside him. Her skin was pale. Not moon pale like the witches who sold Nightbrothers to the breeders, she was pink not chalk white, and her dark brown hair was caught up in a braid. Boba grunted a little and moved. If she wanted him moved, she would tell him. He was hurt, he was in pain, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with bullshit. "I like to travel prepared, so I happened to bring a medical kit. Are you allergic to anything?"

"The ragweed shit that those Whiphids like to smoke?" Boba muttered. Every time he breathed in a lungful of that stuff, he doubled over and started coughing. It was enough to make your nose run for hours on end. "Some tobacco smoke makes me lose my voice, though." And that one time he smoked weed with Bib. That bastard had a way of getting the ** _good_** good stuff. The next thing Boba remembered, he was coming off a three day bender and he was getting water doused in his face. Jabba had not been pleased. Boba was probably lucky to be alive for that incident and he was honestly glad he didn't remember anything. There were plenty of things rogues would do to a stoned slave.

"So not medications." She eyed him, like she was guessing his weight, and stuck a needle in the bottle. "Can you tell me the general place where it hurts?"

"I've never had enough of any to tell," Boba shrugged. He gave her a long look. She was _way_ too good with that needle and that syringe to just be some princess who happened to take a liking to a slave. He eyed her wrist. Boba didn't see the tell tale track marks of an injector, but there was more than one place to put a substance into a body. "Meds are a luxury that you can ill afford to give a slave."

She swore under her breath. "Please just point to where your ribs hurt? I promise, all this does is numb the area where you're hurt."

"Yes, your promise and two fifty will get you a cup of caff," Boba muttered. But he still pointed to the area where his ribs ached the most. The princess slipped the needle under his skin in a way that it didn't hurt and the entire thing was done in less than five minutes. It was...strange. Because all that happened was his ribs felt a little strange, but other than that...he didn't hurt. And he couldn't tell if there had been other drugs injected into him. Huh. Maybe this one was actually telling the truth? Boba shoved the thought away and rolled over on his good side. It wasn't good if a slave got attached to his Master. The last thing he needed to do was invite Saint Murphy into his life more than the Saint already was.

The princess actually lay down beside him and murmured something that sounded like "good night". Bona ignored her. He wasn't in the mood for chatting and he really just wanted to sleep. Still, it was nice that his ribs weren't on fire.


	3. Tensions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What? I'm updating twice in one week...? 
> 
> I'm bored. That's about all you're going to get on that end. I'm bored and this was the only idea that I had
> 
> Also please forgive any glaring errors. I'm typing this over my cat's butt

Going to sleep beside a strange man might not have been the best idea that Leia ever had, but he had taken the only bed in the room. Boba also didn't need to be sleeping on the floor. Not if he had broken several ribs. Leia knew from her time with the Rebellion that aggravating broken ribs only made it that much worse. Sadly, she was no Kateel of Kuat and she didn't know to inject carapace knitter so it would fix the broken bone, not just hurt you and cause a lot of pain. And, sadly, she didn't have alcohol for the pain. Not that Boba would trust her if he drank it. He seemed to have only bedded down beside her because he was in pain. That made her frown a little bit. 

Leia was going to stay up. She had things she needed to look up and not much time to do them. The yonng woman pulled her data-slate out and started reading things that Jyn and Cassian had sent her. It wasn't much--they still didn't have all the information that they needed--and most of their Bothan spies had been killed. The Death Star project had to be stopped. If that meant killing Tarkin, Leia would happily pull the trigger herself. She bit her bottom lip as she read. The intelligence reports were sadly lacking. Very little had been found. It seemed like the best Imperials white hats had been used to create the firewalls. There was very little that Maniac, Maji, Asher, and the rest of the clone hackers could do but just try and batter through them.

A little bit of his dark hair escaped the tie as he twisted in his sleep. Leia found the ends of it. It looked like Boba had been using a piece of leather to keep his hair out of his face. He also tied it in the kind of knot that came undone if you pulled one end. So that Leia did, and she pocketed his hair tie. Tomorrow, she would say that it had came out of his hair while he was asleep. A closer inspection revealed that his hair wasn't as long as hers was, but it was close. Had he never been allowed to cut his hair? Did Jabba like that, seeing Boba with a long, dark mane? It was still wet and it glittered a little in the low light. He twisted in his sleep as if he knew what she was doing. Leia drew her hand back. His hair was as dark and glossy as a raven's wing. Long, too. She thought it would have been beautiful if he had worn it down, not just yanked up.

Leia went back to her reading. She didn't need to bother him, he was probably nervous enough as it was, but he drew her eye as he slept. His face might have seemed like it was carved from stone when he was awake, but it was softer now. More relaxed. She hoped he was having a good dream and not a nightmare. Leia forced herself to go back to looking over her reports before she, too, decided to try and go to sleep. Boba had to have been exhausted from his fights. He might not be waking up for several hours or he might have a sort of internal clock. Leia tried to pull the blankets over to her. She was cold and he was hogging them. Boba grumbled a little in his sleep and yanked them back. This went on for several minutes until Boba finally gave up (she wondered why. He was clearly stronger than she was) and just went to sleep.

She forgot that she still had his hair tie in her pocket.

Leia woke up to water running in the refresher. She picked herself up, looking warily around. Boba had gotten up. He was clearly getting washed and she decided that she could wait to get her own bath. The man needed to have his privacy. He didn't seem to have any other clothes in the room, so she thought that he would be simply reusing his clothes from last night. Strong sunlight streamed through the windows and pooled into molten gold upon the russet floor. It was like living in a large, sandstone cavern. Leia swung her legs out of bed and looked around. This section of the palace wasn't as garish as the others were. There were wall hangings, true, but they were blue and green and white rather than made of cloth of gold or silver.

Someone cleared his throat. Leia looked up and had to keep herself calm. In the bright light, he looked far better than he had last night. His long hair was dripping wet now and his plain shirt clung to his body. It was white, so parts of the material were transparent. Especially on his back. Boba wore the same pants from last night, but the material still clung to him more than ever. His skin was wet, though. From what she could see, he looked strong and fit. Not an ounce of wasted flesh on his body. For Boba's part, he stood there and took it. The only reaction he gave her was a tightening of his jaw. Leia ducked her head. That...was not a way you needed to treat a traumatized and damaged slave.

"You need to think your plan over better." He sat beside her, still wincing from the pain in his ribs. Leia cursed softly. She needed to get that looked at and soon. That would be the first thing she did after they left this hell hole. Why she thought that Tattooine might have something she needed, she had no idea. It was literally a sand pit ruled by a giant slug. "Jabba's not gonna want to sell me unless there's something in it for him. Such as, say, a governorship over Tattooine. You say you're in with the Senate, so put that to good use. And credits. He loves credits almost as much as he likes seeing me fight."

That made sense, now that she thought of it. Boba messed with his hair some and sighed. Leia almost had to sit on her hands. In the light, he looked perfect. Clones were said to be perfected versions of a single man and Boba looked perfect to her. He still gritted his teeth when he moved, though. You could tell that he was in pain. Leia looked to grab the medical kit that she had, but a hand stopped her.

Boba sighed and looked down. "Look. Princess. It's nice to know that you care, but on the off chance that I'm still here when you leave, the last thing I need is to get used to painkillers. I've been dealing with this since I was fifteen."

"How old are you now?" Leia covered the hand on her wrist with his own.

He shrugged. "Thirty. I think. It's hard to count the years out here. And it's not like I even have a birthday to start out with."

Leia sighed a little bit. "I just wanted to help you."

"You can help me by getting me on that ship with you to Coruscant." Sharp hazel eyes met hers. A few strands of his hair fell past his shoulders, but all Leia saw were her eyes. Dark. Powerful. Like she would drown if she got pulled into them. "I've been dealing with pain on my own since I was a kid. A few broken ribs is nothing, but taking it up the ass from a Gamorrean _is_."

"Do you have any ideas?" Leia asked. They had a few hours. Surely they could think of something.

Boba shrugged. "I have a few things to start with. The fat slug is hungry for money and power. Use that to your advantage."


	4. An Encounter

Dealing with the fat slug was never a good idea for many reasons: the fact that you stood over a grate that lead to a rancor pit (how you got **that** thing off of Dathomir without the witches throwing a hissy fit was beyond Boba), the Gammorrean guards, and the general amount of blasters aimed at your back. The idea was that the princess would buy him from Jabba and then take him to Coruscant with her. It was such an incredibly half assed plan that Boba didn't bother spending the thirty minutes it would take to point out all the holes and places where everything was left to chance. Here was the plan in a nutshell: the princess would offer Jabba a shit ton of credits, he would sell Boba, and Boba would go to Coruscant and be a good boy for _somebody else_.

He could see a thousand ways this "plan" could go wrong. Calling it a "plan" was also an insult to every half assed plan out there (and Boba had been privy to some half assed plans in his time. People seemed to forget that slaves had ears too), so Boba decided he was going to refer to it as a "cockamamie scheme". Because that was all it was, a cockamamie scheme cooked up by a princess who had never planned more than a dinner date in her entire life. Still, if it was offering him a way off of this dust bowl and on a real planet, he was going to take it. Boba would have to be a fool to not jump at the chance to leave. He sighed a little bit, feeling the leather collar he wore start to chafe at his neck some. It wasn't the first time he'd been undressed with someone's eyes and it wouldn't be the last.

The princess seemed to realize that she was staring and quickly turned her head. Boba cocked his head some in surprise. Huh. That was new. Being eyed like that was usually followed by being pressed into the mattress, so if she was going to look away, Boba wasn't going to fight her on it. Besides, it was a respite. She got up quickly and mumbled about getting her own bath. Boba ignored her and instead grabbed the comm she left on the bed. He ignored the black lettering, he had never learned to read beyond the lessons an eight year old got and he never learned Standard anyways, and thumbed around until he found the princess' music stash. The bed really did feel like a cloud to his sore, battered body and he was going to enjoy every second of it he could.

She came back after maybe thirty minutes, fully dressed in a tunic and leggings. No obvious jewelry, nothing to say that she was a princess. Boba gave her a once over and noted that she was carrying a nasty looking blaster, shoved down beside her hip. It was what the local rogues called a "hold out" blaster and what his _buir_ had called a "snake gun". The princess grabbed her stuff and motioned for him to get up.

"I appreciate that you like the Coruscanti Symphony Orchestra, but this is not the time to be snooping through other people's things," she sharply said. Boba looked up. He had pushed her buttons on purpose. He needed to know what sort of punishments he'd get if he kriffed up. It was bound to happen. Boba was only human and he had a talent for pissing his Masters off. It was a Mandaloriam thing, though, and Boba had resisted all attempts for it to be beaten out of him. He gave the princess a dark look and turned the music up louder. In all truth, he hated it, but he needed to know... It took the princess nearly a second to cross the room, grab her comm, and back hand him across the face. The sharp _crack_ of skin hitting skin echoed through the room. Boba reeled back, shock on his face. He'd thought that she actually wouldn't hit him and he had been wrong.

Boba would never make that mistake again.

"Get up," the princess hissed through clenched teeth. "Unless you want to rot here, I highly suggest that you get up and follow me." Boba could tell that if he didn't obey, he _would_ get left, so he got up and followed her. Didn't say anything. Didn't meet her eyes, just walked behind her. Like he was a slave. At least she hadn't yanked on the collar and choked his air off. Boba grimaced. He touched his sore cheek after a moment, silently cursing himself. The only time he reacted was when a Weequay grabbed his _shebs_ and made a comment to her partner about how delectable he looked. Boba made his "stone face" as he walked so he wouldn't turn around and deck someone.

"Who do I see if I want to buy one of these slaves?" The princess pulled one of the actual servants, it looked like the chief steward, over so he could talk to her. Boba sighed softly and looked away. The thing was, she had actually talked with the man who could point her in the right direction. Boba kept the pain out of his face as he took a deep breath. His ribs stabbed him again, making him want to curse his Master. The princess was pointed to the accountant, the one man in charge of all the dealings at the palace. Boba trailed after the princess meekly, his eyes downcast. The last thing he wanted was to be grabbed by one of the rogues and debased in front of his soon to be mistress. He kept his eyes peeled, looking for the one man he knew only as Rook.

Rook liked them bloody and screaming, then on their knees thanking him for what he did. Boba knew because he was Rook's preferred "toy".

His hands curled into fists as a chain was clipped to his collar. He couldn't get out of the cell he was in, not without the key, and he didn't have any wire with him. Boba sighed softly as the cell door was locked behind a human guard. This level of the palace was cold. No slave was deemed worthy enough to have blankets, so Boba was left to either stand or sit. He opted to stand, mostly because he needed to keep on his level. Jabba didn't get directly involved in slave deals. No, the fat slug was too good for that and preferred to leave that business to his underlings. Boba wished he could get out of the cell, it was literally only a few paces wide and double that long, but he was stuck in there until either the princess or a guard came back.

Boot steps sounded around the corner and Boba came face to face with the man who more often than not graced his nightmares. Rook was pretty tall, over a head taller than Boba, and his nose was still crooked from the time Boba had smashed it with his fists in an attempt to get away. If you knew where to look, too, you could see the scars from all the times Boba had taken a chunk out of him. A sort of madness glimmered in the man's blue eyes and he smiled to see the hair all over Boba's back and shoulders.

"You look better with it down instead of up," Rook mused. Boba said nothing and looked away. It wasn't smart to bait the man. Most rogues were unstable and Rook took the cake. Not that Boba had ever had cake. He just heard that it tasted good. "What? You're not going to say anything? Tooka got your tongue?" Rook smirked a little bit. "You know, I know much better uses for that mouth of yours than a scowl."

"The bars work two ways," Boba calmly said. "Unless you got a dick transplant, you're going to have to find someone else." It was common knowledge that Rook had gotten in a firefight with one of the local pirates and lost a chunk of his equipment. Boba wondered just who it was and why that person had aimed so low.

"Very funny," Rook muttered. He crossed his arms and gave Boba an icy look. "Why're you in here anyways? You piss off your Master and bite somebody again?"

"I really don't want to talk to you."

_Because you've invaded my dreams and my thoughts and taken the last place I could hide!_

"Pity that." The dark haired man pressed close into him, his head cocked like a dog. "Because I want to talk to you. The albino said they were selling you, you know that. That you had finally outlived your use here and Jabba was tired of watching you slaughter all the other fighters. I wonder if **I** could buy you..."

That was the absolute last thing that Boba wanted and he tried to move out of the way. "Actually, I think you might be outbid by Coruscanti _royalty_." He spat the last word, eyes in narrow slits. He wanted nothing more than to reach through the bars and strange Rook, but there was nothing he could do. If a slave killed a freeman for any reason, the slave was usually destroyed. On Tatooine, that meant being thrown into the Pit of Carkoon. Boba really didn't want to die, it was part of the reason he had agreed to this mess, so he restrained himself. It would be so easy, though, to lunge through the bars and break the other man's neck. So easy. But who was he kidding? Boba didn't want to die.

Thankfully, he could hear others talking and coming closer. Rook shrugged and walked away. It took Boba a minute before he sank down against the wall, feeling a little on the dirty side. He _hated_ Rook with a passion. He'd plotted out numerous ways to kill the man and make it look like an accident. The only reason why he hadn't tried was that he was too scared. Boba looked down a little bit. He was too much of a coward to fight back against the man who had abused him.

"... and he's yours now," the man was saying. Boba looked up. A grey skinned Togruta male was talking to the princess and Boba felt his heart almost leap.

He was almost out of here. For good.


	5. Too Close for Comfort

What if he had found her files?

Leia cursed herself for not having a password locked area on her comm, if Fett was going to grab it and go looking through things. She saw Boba as a man, not as just another slave who was supposed to put up and shut up. What if he had found the plans to the Death Star that she'd gotten? Ferus would kill her! So would Roan, but that was beside the point. She was literally putting her life and the lives of her fellow rebels on the line by letting Boba pick up her comm. Maybe he wanted to listen to music. Maybe he was bored and wanted to read ( _Could_ Boba read?). Maybe he was just doing it to be annoying. Reading the man was like trying to read a rock. Leia had to hand it to him, the man had an excellent Sabacc face. She wondered if he could beat the rogue Captains who often graced the palace if he tried.

The human/Pantoran hybrid handed her a small date slate. "This has all of Fett's information on it as we know. You'll need it to get through customs, I'm afraid." The male brushed back his violet hair and thumbed through a second copy of the files. "His blood type, known allergies, approximate age, the last time he had his shots, and the last time we tested him for a sexually transmitted disease. You'll be happy to know that he's come up clean each time, though he's due for another test and another round of shots. I wouldn't, ah, _enjoy_ him without protection until you've gotten the results back." The man continued on as if he hadn't said something out of the ordinary. "Also, the collar. Standard control collar. We had to stop using the chips after one of them rotted and we lost a valuable fighter." He pressed a small ring into her hands. "Press the center jewel once and he gets a standard five second shock. Low voltage, nothing that's going to kill him. Press it again and it goes up by ten seconds until either he stops or he's unconscious."

Leia resisted the urge to destroy both items, but she thanked the hybrid and joined him to go collect Boba. It felt very wrong to own another human being, but she was trying to get him out of this hell hole. She also hadn't seen many hybrids that weren't half clone and half Zabrak, so she looked the man over as he walked. He was a little taller than most Pantorans and not as delicately built. His hair, too, was darker and his eyes shone bright blue instead of green or amber. His skin was a dusty blue. If he hadn't have just talked about Boba like you talked about a dog, she might have considered getting his number. Leia slipped the ring on her finger instead. Despite what she thought of it, it was very small and very light. It blended in with the rest of her jewelry, like it belonged where it was.

"So is there anything he can't eat?" Leia asked. She tried to keep her hand off of her blaster. Mon Mothma was going to have a fit (if she hadn't panicked already. Leia had only been gone most of the morning) when she saw Boba. "I don't want to make him sick."

"He's been okay with everything we gave him," the man shrugged. "Not cucumbers, though. I have no idea why a human, of all creatures, would be allergic to a simple melon, but he is. The last time he ate it, he threw up. Of course, it was back in his old cell and we could write it off as he simply had a cold. He didn't have to fight that day. I think he enjoyed it."

She nodded and bit her lip. "That's all?"

"He's native Mandalorian," the male replied. "Hard to control at the best of times. I would suggest plenty of exercise. A gym membership, maybe. Sparring practice. You did say that he would be both a companion and your bodyguard, so sparring practice wouldn't be amiss. He might enjoy it even more if he got to adjust the settings on the droids. Or you could even take him on the fighting circuit. Fett is rather strong and as healthy as a bantha. And he's all yours."

They rounded a corner. Leia looked over and bit her bottom lip. One of the rebels that she hated, a man known as Rook Sil'va, was either taunting Boba or threatening him. The man's face was like stone. Leia couldn't tell much about the conversation, but she could tell that either Boba wasn't very happy with it or Sil'va was getting on his nerves. Knowing Boba, it was probably both. Sil'va was literally the definition of a lowlife piece of space trash, but there was nothing she could do. The Rebellion needed allies and Sil'va knew just about every illicit star lane there was in the galaxy. Between Han Solo, Rook Sil'va, and Dash Rendar, the Rebellion could finance itself by trading in wheat, copper, and gold with neutral, backwaters systems.

Sil'va saw her and gave a tight lipped smile. "Ahh, yes. The Desert Killer has claimed another heart. I wonder how long it'll be before he's returned? Lemme tell ya, princess, this one is worthless. Save the credits and buy a pretty little Twi'lek or a Nightbrother bitch, not this killer."

"She didn't ask you." Boba's voice was low and cool. His shackled hands balled into fists. The man looked murderous, like there was nothing he wanted in this galaxy more than to turn around and stab Sil'va. Boba looked up at her. Something like hope flickered in his dark eyes and she swore that he mouthed " _Get me out of here_!" and jerked his thumb at Sil'va. Leia nodded. The last thing she needed was bad blood between her new slave and one of the key guides for the Rebellion. As much as she hated Sil'va, he was very much needed.

"Sil'va." Leia kept her voice calm and professional as she walked over. Sil'va eyed her. They glared at each other for perhaps a few seconds before Sil'va backed down. He gave her a hasty bow and stalked off, probably still fuming over whatever bad blood those two had in the past. Boba allowed the hybrid male to enter the cage and unlock him from the wall. She knew from that same man that the palace had a "leash law" in effect and that Boba needed to be at least collared and on a chain so he wouldn't be harassed that much by the others. If he didn't like this, Boba never showed it. He had to hate the collar and know that she could shock him at any second.

How did he _live_ like that? Or was it even living at all?

Boba followed her obediently up the stairs. He didn't pull on the chain or try to break free, even though he was far stronger than she was. Boba seemed resigned to his fate, that he would stay a slave and forever be treated like a dog.

"Leia?!" A tall, red haired woman came rushing around the bend. "I've been looking for you all morning! Breha figured out about our little stunt and the sooner you get back to Coruscant, the better it'll be for the both of us. And why do you have a slave with you?"

Leia gave her friend a half smile and screwed her courage to the sticking place. "Senator Mon Mothma, I'd like you to meet Boba Fett. He's going back to Coruscant with us."


	6. The Red Haired She-Devil

The woman stared at Boba like he had just crawled out of a ditch or something. Boba set his jaw and glared right back. He didn't think the princess would use the blasted collar on him, but he'd been wrong about getting slapped. Boba wouldn't make the same mistake twice. The man glared at her, memorize the page-boy hair cut and her strange robes. They were cream with gold accents, an odd choice of style, but he wouldn't say anything. All he knew about clothes was what he gathered after he had pleasured one female or another and was allowed to rest. Boba just wanted off of this planet. He was grateful that Rook (his name was Rook Sil'va?) hadn't told the princess just how good Boba was with his mouth and demanded that Boba show off.

He'd been choked enough by that beast, thank you very much. As soon as he had a blaster, Boba was going to hunt down Sil'va and make him **_pay_**. The thought filled him with a sort of vicious pleasure and it allowed him to escape to the corners of his mind while the princess was talking. It also let him keep an emotionless face. Here, if you wore your heart on your sleeve, you were likely to get killed. Boba wanted to live, that was part of why he'd stopped being so stubborn a few years ago, and he was willing to do whatever it took to please his Mistress enough so he would get set free. Boba, though, had very low hopes that he would actually be freed. It was intoxicating to have absolute power over another and Boba knew several slaves who had been purchased to be set free, only to be held in worse conditions than they were used too.

"Your mother is going to kill me." The red haired woman pursed her lips. The princess sighed and got Boba to walk after her. In all fairness, it wasn't because Boba wanted to be the obedient little lap anooba, it was that he didn't want to get shocked. After all, the brand new ring the princess had was connected right to his collar. The battery pack also fed off his body heat, so it wouldn't be going dead anytime soon. Jabba must have gotten the collars from Zyggerian slave breeders, because they were a bitch to try and get off unless your thumbprint was coded into the little receptor area. And no, the old hairspray and cellophane tape trick didn't work. Boba knew because he'd tried it and gotten a nasty shock for his efforts.

"He was going to _die_ ," the princess insisted. Boba hissed a curse as the steps jogged his ribs. That hurt! When he got to whatever fancy ship this princess had, he was going to raid the medical supply cabinet and sleep for a week. "He broke ribs, Mothma. Boba has been through hell and back and I couldn't leave him here! Not after he wound up in my room!" Boba perked his ears up and listened. Beings tended to forget that slaves had ears, too. Boba had blackmail material on ninety percent of known rogues. He intended to use it, too. Boba had a plan for what he was going to do once he was freed. Step one was kill Rook Sil'va. Preferably so the man was screaming in agony. Second was to buy Bib and his buddy Unn. They might have been mutual antagonists of each other, but they were decent to him and Boba was going to help. Step three was find a job where Boba could actually use his skills in fighting.

"And your mother is still going to kill me." The woman looked over Boba with keen eyes. Boba, for his part, kept his eyes carefully averted. He had the feeling that this one _would_ use the shock collar on him if given half the chance. "I can't let you drag some gladiator in the palace! You might get away with keeping a slave on Coruscant, but you know your mother won't let you bring him to Naboo!"

_So the princess is Nabu. That explains a lot._

Boba climbed beside the princess into the speeder. He sat on the floor, his head near her lap. At this angle, the suns were streaming right in his eyes and he was having to squint. Boba browned up nicely, though, if he was allowed in the sun. He wasn't worried about getting sunburned like the fair skinned princess and her friend were. Boba squirmed a little as the woman picked up a few strands of his dark hair. Of course, that was when the speeder started up and soon Boba was curled on the floor to protect himself from sand and grit. The shields worked great if you were sitting on the leather seats. The shields sucked if you were like Boba and sitting on the floor. The man had long since come to the conclusion that he hated sand.

He had no idea where his tie was. Boba hadn't been allowed to cut his hair (it had not only been just one more way for Jabba to exert his control over Boba; it was also becauser certain soon to be dead _bar'ves_ liked using his hair as a grip point) and it was almost down to the center of his back. That meant it tended to whip around in the wind unless it could have been pulled back. Boba had left the tie back in Jabba's palace, though. There was no point in him trying to get it back. The tie might have been just a piece of leather, but it had been a way for Boba to exert a little control over things. He happened to glance up and saw that the princess was thumbing through his records. Boba sighed softly.

"He's at least healthy," the princess commented. "You've heard all the horror stories about buying slaves that look healthy but are riddled with disease inside. He'll be fine. We just have to worry about customs on Coruscant."

Oh, Boba was _dreading_ that one. They would probably roll his exam into the customs visit, which meant he would be probed **and** have blood drawn on the exact same day. Plus whatever else they wanted from him. Yay. Boba was absolutely shaking with excitement over yet another painful, degrading exam probably conducted by medics who were even worse than Jabba's. He let his head flop back on the seat. All Boba wanted was to be free and it looked like the galaxy was throwing up roadblock after roadblock. He had things he wanted to do, though, and he couldn't do those things unless he was free. If that meant he had to suck it up to this princess and her friend, he'd do that.

"Don't blame me when you're in deep poodoo for the next century." The woman was thumbing through her own comm, reading something. Boba decided that he hated her after that.

"I don't care." The princess sounded stubborn. Almost like a petulant child. Boba kept his smirk to himself, though. He was in no mood to get shocked or worse. He let out a tired huff and watched as Mos Eisley came into view. Oh, joy. There were at least a hundred Native Mandalorian slaves in the city and most of them were in worse shape than Boba was. Boba was at least healthy. Yeah, you could count all of his ribs, but he wasn't that malnourished. Those slaves? Many of them were skin and bone, pathetic creatures that would soften the hearts of all but the Chiss and the Hutts. The speeder stopped and Boba let his Mistress and her friend get out first. He followed at their heels like a well trained dog. Boba hated looking at his _adla adate_. He had been owned by the palace, not a private owner. They had suffered more than he ever had.

He kept his head down as they walked the rest of the way. The last thing Boba wanted was to end up like those poor wretches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Adla adate: Literally "same people". Used here as "countrymen"


	7. Transitions

For some bizarre reason, Boba had sat on the floor the entire trip back to Mos Eisley. Why, Leia had no idea. She knew that the sand got _everywhere_ if you happened to sit below where the shields were. What bright idea had he had, sitting there? She didn't know why he would. It wasn't like he'd get zapped for sitting beside her on the chair. She wasn't going to shock him. Yes, she had gone a little too far with slapping him. But she'd been scared, scared that he could read and he'd tell the Empire what she was trying to do. Leia sighed and tried to ignore the man curled up under the leather seat. He wasn't covered up in red ink, nor was he diseased (that Leia knew of). She had no idea why Boba wouldn't pull his head out of his _shebs_ and sit beside her like a normal human being.

They finally hopped out of the speeder. Boba moved a little stiffly, like he was sore, and brushed the sand out of his clothes. It served him right if he got sand down his smallclothes, if you asked Leia. He had been sitting there like a freaking idiot in the middle of a desert planet. She sighed and rubbed her face. Maybe what they said about jocks was true. Maybe Boba was a little bit stupid. She started walking through the "city". Well, it wasn't a city by what she was used too, but it was no Niima Outpost. Mothma walked beside her, reading the directions off of a comm. Leia saw something out of the corner of her eye: a very skinny looking boy running over to Boba. He had the same coloring of Boba, though, and Leia wondered if they were skin.

" _Vaabir gar alor copad at haa'taylir te tengaanar_?" The boy sounded pleading. Like this was very important to him. And he wasn't speaking in Standard, so Leia had no idea what he wanted. She looked over to Boba. He looked very sad, but resigned. It was one of the first times she'd ever seen him show emotions, too. It took her a few minutes before she noticed the thin, black collar the boy wore. She cursed under her breath. The boy was a slave, too? It was getting hot, though, with the twin suns tearing down on her without mercy. She didn't know what to do, just beyond letting Boba talk.

"What did he say?" Leia had to ask.

"He wanted to know if you wanted to see a show." He sighed and looked at the ground. "Most of them are various slaves like me. Some are dancers. Others...do other things. He's too young, but those who don't work do not get to eat."

"Oh." She didn't want to think about what that meant. "Tell him that I don't want to go."

Boba nodded curtly. " _Nayc, ner alor vaabir nayc. Jii slanar_." The boy nodded and took off to where he'd come from. Leia was starting to feel like a massive grease ball, though. It was hot! She didn't want to sweat through her clothes. Boba, though, looked like he was barely effected by the heat. He watched her with hooded eyes. Leia was struck by a horrible thought--had Boba been one of those slaves? She knew he was Native Mandalorian... It didn't do well to think about that, though. She sighed and started walking back to her ship. Boba followed her. He was limping, his face a little paler than normal. Did she need to take him to a medic? She knew he had at least one broken rib, maybe more...

"It's always good to have a guy who speaks the local language." Mothma still eyed Boba with some distaste as they walked into the docking slips. Boba seemed hyper alert, like he was watching out for anything and everything that might hurt him. It was clear that he didn't trust her. Mothma pursed her lips some. "Might want to keep him in the brig. I don't trust him, Leia. You know where I stand on slavery as a whole. But this one? He's been trained to kill people since he was a small child and he's damn good at it."

Leia nodded. She climbed up into the small cruiser and dropped her jacket off on one of the couches. The next thing she did was unclip Boba from his leash. He gave her a nod, maybe out of thanks, and went off to sulk in the corner. Mothma walked away from her, maybe to start the take off sequence. Leia took the time to look over her purchase. Some Senators went off world and came back with monkey-cats or porgs (one Mandalorian Senator came back with a _narglatch_ , of all creatures). Senator Leia Naberrie Organa went to Tatooine and came back with a Native Mandalorian slave. She needed to pour herself a drink now. Or maybe even get one of those sunspot sparklers that Mothma always drank.

"You can sit, you know." Leia sat one one of the couches and plugged her comm-tablet into charge. Boba sat beside her on the floor. Leia groaned a little bit. "Is there a particular reason you like sitting on the floor? Is it a big, tough Mandalorian thing or do you just like torturing your ribs even more?"

Boba gave her what could best be described as a "duh" look before it went back into his usual stone face. "I'm a slave. Slaves don't get to sit on the couch. I don't even get to sleep in a karking _bed_ unless you either desire me or you say I can." He turned back around and muttered something under his breath that had the words "you" and " _chakkar_ " strung together.

"Well, you can sit on the couch," Leia said. She wondered just what she'd gotten into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Vaabir gar alor copad at haa'taylir te tengaanar: Does your Mistress want to see the show?  
> 2). Nayc, ner alor vaabir nayc. Jii slanar: No, my Mistress doesn't. Now go.


	8. Thank You, Mistress

The couch felt like heaven under his battered body. Boba imagined that sitting on that couch was almost as good as sitting on an actual _water bed_ would be. Not that Boba had ever seen one, he'd just known that they existed and they were said to be very comfortable. After all that had happened, Boba felt he was entitled ro some comfort. Now he just needed a few blankets and a pillow. He would be set and happy. It would be so nice to have his body not feel like it was being stabbed every time he moved. Boba could forget about the collar. He'd lived with that since he was eleven years old. That had been the year he first tried to escape. Boba liked to think he would have made it if it hadn't have been for the guards.

His ribs hurt. They really karking _hurt_. There was sand all down his clothes. His ribs felt like they had knives and were slashing him for stealing from the larder. He was hungry. His head was throbbing with a dehydration headache. And his kriffing mistress wanted to play on her comm-pad. What was she playing? Some version of Death Birds? Boba wished he had his armor already so he could just blast out of here and be done with the whole mess. But where could he go? Mandalore had a problem. They couldn't stop the roving gangs of Zyggerian slavers, nor could they stop the Imperials from enslaving those they thought were rebels. Boba had a collar on his neck, he'd been branded after his third escape attempt, he had a slave tattoo, and there was a microchip behind his left ear that said he was from a Genosian slaving company.

He wouldn't get very far. Boba would be lucky to get beyond the docking bay.

The red haired woman, Mon Mothma, the one who wanted to keep him locked in the brig like a dog, came back into the common area. Boba watched her with hooded eyes. He could have really used a drink. He didn't even mind if it was the lukewarm, dirty water that the Tuskan Raiders used to water their animals when they visited the palace. Even dirty spring water would have been better than dying of thirst. Boba had long since gone past swallowing his own saliva. His mouth was dry and he was thirsty. He didn't care if he had to lick to get his water. He was hungry, he was thirsty, and the long ride out to the space port was giving him one hell of a headache. Plus the sand down his britches was really getting annoying.

"You thirsty?" Mon Mothma looked over at the princess. The princess just shrugged and went back to reading her comm-pad. Boba swore under his breath. Technically, he got her scraps if she was in a foul mood. If he was lucky, he might get some cheap grub of his very own. It might not have tasted very good, but he could have at least had a full belly. He was going on day two of no food right now and little water. If she didn't speak up, he would.

"Water would be great, thank you." Boba raised his chin and looked at the woman with defiance in his eyes. He was a Mandalorian. Only defeated, never broken. He unclenched his fists. If the princess wanted too, she could have shocked him six ways from Sunday with that damn collar. But she didn't and she asked for the same thing. Boba watched the woman. Would she serve a slave or would she make him get it? The woman cleared her throat. Boba saw the unwritten order and simply sighed a little as he got up. He could still be punished later. He didn't care. He was thirsty and his head hurt. The galley was pretty easy to find and they had glasses and ice. Plus a tap of cold water. He re-purposed one of the larger plates as a tray and carried the water back in to his Mistress and her friend.

His water was taunting him. Boba was sure of it. But he made sure to serve the princess and Mon Mothma on the bended knee before he sat down (on the floor. Boba didn't feel like pressing his luck anymore). He drank deeply, savoring the cool feeling down his throat. Boba chewed the ice, too. Every bit of hydration he could get. It was what you learned from living in the desert for twenty years. He settled beside them, watching what was going on. The red head, Mon Mothma, was looking at him with a cold disinterest. He got it, he wasn't exactly looking pretty at the moment. He was dirty, there was stubble, and his hair was lank and greasy. If he was going to be the pet of a Senator, he had to look the part.

"You know I plan to set him free, right?"

Boba resisted the urge to snort. Oh, he _really_ believed that lie. You could pull her other finger, that one shot purple zynna-berry scented bubbles around the room. Was it strange that one of his other, ah, clients? Was that a word Boba could use? Because he wasn't a whore, he was a gladiator who was sometimes whored out but he never really wanted it... Boba shook his head. The point was that one of them had worn that perfume and Boba rather liked the scent. It just smelled good to him.

"I know you plan to take him in the Galactic Senate," Mon Mothma evenly said. "If he reads Standard, you know he'll get into that comm of yours again. He already did it once."

"I don't read Standard," Boba interjected. "I read Mandalorian but I stopped getting lessons when I was eight. Sorry to burst your bubble." It had been literally over two decades since he had last been able to read a book. Or even look at letters. Slaves who could read weren't very valuable and Jabba didn't want to waste the time in teaching him. Sure, Bib could (barely) read, but he couldn't write. "Whatever illegal activities you are getting up too don't concern me. Just pretend I'm not here." Everyone else did it.

"I can see why you slapped him." Mon Mothma looked like she was trying to constrain the laugh. Boba looked around the room. They weren't going to smack him across the face for that? Or even shock him a little? This was...strange. Usually, when he was mouthy, he paid for it. Mon Mothma turned back to him. "They aren't _illegal_ , per say. Just a little bit of backdoor dealing in the copper and rare earth trade."

"Ahh. Don't use Tirsane. He gets falling down drunk all the time. I used to pick his pockets until I got a hold of his data chip with all the names on it." Boba examined the long gash on his arm. He'd been whipped. Brutally beaten. Boba had almost died. "A word of advice, don't steal from a Cathar with an attitude problem and a drinking habit. He went straight to Jabba after that." Getting carpet burn had been the least of his worries (Cathars were like nunas and that fur burned. It was all he would say). Boba shrugged and gave them a nonchalant look. "Use Iko and those pet Zabraks of hers. They at least know what they're doing and aren't getting blind drunk every night."

"We know Iko," the princess assured him. She glanced down at him. "Boba, why don't you go to the medical bay and fix yourself while we talk? I'd rather you not overhear this."

It was a slap in the face, but he was going to take it. Boba struggled to his feet and managed to get to the medical bay and closed the door. Just what were these two involved with? He knew enough about symbols to know what copper and rare earth symbols were.

A highly stylized falcon wasn't that.


	9. A Close Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I am reading The Canterbury Tales for my Medieval Literature class and I'm an immature child.
> 
>  
> 
> I HIGHLY recommend those, by the way, if you want a collection of Middle English fart jokes and sexual innuendo

"He's smart. A little too smart if you ask me." Serious blue grey eyes met Leia's. Mothma cleared her throat and grabbed the comm-pad again. "The last trhing we need is a bad decision on Tatooine to cause the end of the Rebellion. You know as well as I do that slaves aren't loyal. If they were, well, they would be dogs." Mothma leaned back a little and opened up a message. "We don't have much time before they discover the base we have on KDY. Kateel can only hide us for some long and the Kuhlvulti are already stretched thin as it is. We're going to have to move."  


"The sister isn't helping, either." Leia grimaced and gave Mothma a long look. "The best thing we could do with Kodir and her boyfriend Dengar is take them out. Dengar is smart enough to know when to cut his losses and leave. Kodir? She still hasn't forgiven her sister for giving that massive contract to IronFist." That was, the Rebellion. It was very odd how a simple mining company could request star fighters as they pleased, but such as the life when you dealt with the Far Rim. The pirates Nera Storm and Lyshaa were only part of the problem. Storm and Lyshaa you could reason with, as both had reasons to hate the Empire. But Black Sun? Only heavy artillery or a fleet of x-wings would keep them away. Or so the Empire thought.

Leia could "lean" on beings at times to get them to do what she wanted too. Such as buying Boba at a severe discount, getting Lyshaa to stop trying to raid her ships or convincing Nera Storm that it _really_ wasn't worth her while to try the Rebellion, or getting Black Sun to let the ore freighters to pass through unmolested. Maybe in the days of the Republic she would have been trained as a Jedi (how else could you explain her telepathic "leans" beyond using the Force?). But this was time time of the Empire and Leia had no time to sit around and try to learn space magic. She had a Rebellion to organize and a slave to set free. Speaking of... she needed to look into the paperwork required for actually manumitting Boba. It would bound to be a kriff-ton.  


"Kodir is currently sleeping with one Orson Callan Krennic, if you believe the gossip." Mothma looked like she wanted to gag at the very thought of it. "I thought you heard that Dengar got his brains blown out by none other than our very unpredictable friend."  


"Please tell me Saeris wasn't involved."  


"I could, but I make it a policy to never lie to my friends." Mothma sounded like she wanted to strangle a certain Zabrak. Leia understood the sentiment. Saeris Maderth was a pain in the _shebs_ when it came to not killing people. He wasn't as bad as Neeras or some of the Black Sun vigos, but the Zabrak was more than willing to turn to his fists or his blasters. That said, Saeris was a very smart man. He was shrewd and wily, perfect for wording things that needed to be sent to the Empire. No one gave him a second glance, either. Saeris knew how to blend in with a crowd. How? He simply ducked his head and picked a human to walk a few steps beside. No one ever paid attention to slaves.  


"Kodir wants our head," Leia sighed. Kodir was smart enough to know that Kateel was playing with the Rebellion. Historically, Kuat Drive Yards liked to do their own thing. It was the Kuhlvulti way: you do you, I'll do me. The fiercely independent people hadn't appreciated it when the Empire just showed up on their doorstep and told them to hand over the controls to the machinery. "Never mind that Saeris and Dengar hated each other--Kodir wants our head. I can just feel it."

"You think she's going to bring up a dead bounty hunter when she's got the ear of a very powerful man?" Mothma asked. "Kodir sent us a comm message telling me to give Saeris a promotion. She was looking for a way to bump off Dengar so she could move on to Krennic."

"Is it bad that I'm feeling a little bit bad for an Imperial?" Leia laughed. "How long will this one last? Three weeks before she's looking around again?"

Of course, Boba decided that was the moment he needed to reappear. The slave looked much better, his color was better and he wasn't limping. He sat down at her feet like an adoring puppy. Leia rolled her eyes. Mothma gave her a pointed look and mouthed ' _you made this mess, so you pick it up_ ' as she got up. If Boba noticed, he said nothing. Leia hoped that they weren't going to go round and round about him sitting on the furniture. He wasn't filthy dirty! If Boba was usually coated in filth, she could understand not wanting him on a chair. But if he was clean? Boba was a human and he could sit where ever he damn well wanted too. She silently cursed the fact that she would have to leave the collar on him when they reached Coruscant.  


"I'm feeling better." Boba leaned back. His dark face was, as per usual, stone like. He had found a pair of cargo pants and someone's white tank top. It huged his figure and really brought out how muscular he was. If he noticed her looking, he said nothing. He leaned back. It took Leia a few minutes before she realized what was different. The very long, small of the back length hair that she liked had been shaved brutally short. He looked so different, too. His face and eyes were harder. The long hair had softened his features, made him more human. Boba set his jaw. "I hated it. I karking hated it. So you know what I did? I found the fur razor in the medical bay and I cut it all off."  


"You...like to push your luck."  


"You haven't beaten me yet." Boba crossed his arms and glared at her. "You will, I know. Or you'll use that damn collar on me. They all do. You wonder why Native Mandalorian slaves are always so skinny? You keep us hungry and we're too tired to lead a slave revolt."  


Her hand flew to her mouth as she thought that over. "That's...that's terrible..." Was Boba malnourished? He looked lean and healthy enough, but she wasn't sure. Now that she looked at him, Leia saw that there wasn't an ounce of wasted flesh on his body. That meant that he had little to no body fat. Would he get cold? Was he cold? "That shouldn't happen, Boba. I'm not going to beat you. I promise."  


"You can pull my other leg. That one plays that damn jingle song. You know, the one that gets stuck in your head every time you hear it?"  


"At least it's not Teardrop." Leia tried to defuse the situation before it went nuclear. "That's the planet where you throw the governor's smallclothes out the window with every new moon. It's for good luck."  


"I'm sure the governor loves that," Boba dryly said. "Where I come from, it's considered a sign of favor if you actually _have_ smallclothes. Let alone two pairs!"  


That's when it hit her. "You're not wearing any, are you?" Leia plastered her best campaign smile on her face and tried not to scream.  


"No. Why would I? I just fight! I'm not one of the ones that you usually deal with, not unless you call for me." Boba looked at her like she had just sprouted wings and declared that she was the mystical goddess Ma'at, ready to come and restore order to the galaxy.  


"We call that "going commando" and we don't do that on Coruscant. Or Naboo." Leia rubbed her face. "I think one of the male pilots has a stash of emergency clothes. Go put on some smallclothes. Please, for the love of the Force, do not do that when we hit Coruscant!"  


Boba gave her a strange look, but he did as she said. Leia just cursed herself and wondered just what she had gotten into.  



	10. Coruscant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Mentions of sexual assault and non-consensual medical procedures

They were in hyperspace for a good few days. Boba wasn't sure how long it was and he wasn't going to push his lucky by asking. Sure, he could always _try_ the princess, but he'd been shocked with that damn collar more than once. It was agonizing pain. Felt like you were getting stabbed over and over again by a thousand little electric knives until you were screaming and cowed down at her feet. Boba shuddered to even think of it. He didn't like this, didn't like being useless on a ship. She had to be looking at him and wondering if he would submit to her. Boba dreaded the day she actually tried him out. Maybe she was waiting until he had the exam? Speaking of, the princess had gotten word from Coruscant's customs that yes, he was going to get an exam on the same day he was examined for any contagious diseases.

Boba was imported, live property. You had to carefully screen the livestock so one bad one didn't make the others all die or something. Boba supposed that it would be a sort of poetic justice if he did have a social disease. He wondered just how many of his Master's friends he could have made sick. Of course, they were all careful with him (on Jabba's orders. Boba couldn't fight worth _osik_ if he was torn) but that didn't mean something couldn't have happened. He'd been on his back enough to know how to do it: flat on his back with his legs open wide and eyes closed. He wondered if the princess knew. The thought of that filled Boba with a sort of dread and made him stay in the hold of the ship. He had an actual bed, which he was going to have to pay for, but it felt very strange to be sleeping in a bed by himself.

All he had had before was a ratty, thick quilt that he shared with Bib and Unn. His skin might have crawled, but at least he didn't freeze from After Dark. Tatooine was well below freezing most nights. Sleeping in the middle of two aliens who ran hotter than a human had its perks. Boba missed them, too. He missed Bib's point blank, dry commentary and Unn's shy smiles. He closed his eyes sadly. Boba had lost his only friends during this entire thing. He had promised them he'd be coming back for them if he could, but Boba knew that was a snowball's chance in hell. The princess would get used to having him around or she would decide that it was too much work to set him free. He could even put a face to the name: Seelah. But she was long dead, an early victim of the rancor.

He wasn't aware that they had touched down before the princess came and got him. Boba followed her and silently took a breath. It took an impressive amount of self control to keep from just running away. If this was anything like what happened on Taooine, they might not change the gloves or even bother to use lubricant when they looked inside him. Boba cringed softly. The only time he'd had bacta on Tatooine was when he'd ripped open after one of these. Boba swallowed and walked. He could hardly breathe, he was so nervous. The princess looked behind him and covered his hand with hers. That was supposed to make him feel better?! Boba didn't jerk away, though. That might have gotten him shocked.

"I'm sorry," the princess whispered. "I tried to get you into a private clinic, but they insisted. I'm sure it will be quick."

"Easy for you to say!" he hissed back. He looked up and followed the white clothed doctors. At least he was going into a screened off area. Boba bounced a little on his toes. Maybe he could deck these guys and run? He was in decent health. He'd eaten well on the princess' ship. He had the energy reserves he'd need to run off. One of them looked at him and Boba shrank back. They could hurt him and make it look like an accident. The man took a shuddering breath and let them scan behind his ear. That would be the _first_ thing to go--the damn chip.

"Sit on the bed, please," a red haired human asked. Boba obeyed. "I know you don't want to do this, but this will go so much easier and quicker on you if you just do what I say. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." He managed to stop hyperventilating enough to nod and answer.

"Alright. I need you to take off your shirt and lean back for me." The man was pulling on what looked like clean gloves. Boba thanked his lucky stars that this one cared. He'd been manhandled enough times on Tatooine to know what it felt like when one didn't. He sighed, but pulled off the shirt. This one was a sort of knit material. It hung off his body like a sail on a windless day, saying that the pilot was far bigger than Boba. Native Mandalorians tended to be compact and muscular. This pilot had to be the size of a small Wookiee. The man started putting his hands on Boba's stomach and pressing. "Tell me if this starts to hurt you."

He hated being touched in the stomach. Boba had almost been gutted with a vibro-shiv more than once and he had the scars to prove it. The touching in and of itself wasn't the problem. It was where the man was touching that was. Boba tensed up. He didn't hiss in pain, though, and he didn't jerk back. "Nothing hurts!" he snapped. "Now will you stop checking out my scars and get this over with?!"

"Mouthy." The man gave him a dry look. "But I'm not the one who will die if I don't behave, so I'll let it slide." He motioned for Boba to get up. "I'm sure you're familiar with getting your finger pricked. We don't trust what they do on Tatooine, so we are going to have to be thorough with you." He took a small device in his hand. Boba gave it a long look, but he submitted his hand. One almost unnoticeable prick later and he was watching drops of his blood be squeezed into a tube. It was very unnerving. To Boba, though, that had always proved he was human. He bled just as red as the next freeman did. The blood was drawn and next it was time to scan his chest. Boba could sit through that one. Surprise, surprise. He had a minor chest infection from breathing in sand for twenty odd years.

He gave the next one a long look as he came in with what looked like a tray of vaccines. "You are using fresh needles, right?" He'd learned to ask the hard way after six Twi'leks had died of blood fever. Luckily, he had been one of the first to get his shots.

"I'm a professional. Of _course_ I'm using fresh needles!" the man snapped. He took the swab, cleaned out a space, and proceeded to inoculate Boba for the thousandth time against common slave diseases using more force than was necessary.  He yowled after one or two of them, feeling the thing burn through his muscle. That hurt! His arm was going to be stiff for a week after that! It was taking almost all of his strength to keep calm and not fling himself at the princess' feet and beg forgiveness for whatever horrible thing he did to deserve _this_! The one in charge came back and had a tube of gel in his hands.

"Pull down your pants and lean back." The man guided Boba down with his hands and made sure he was lying flat back. He was trying to regulate his harsh breathing, but it wasn't working. He gripped the sheets with his good hand. This felt too much like what Sil'va had done... Boba tried to ignore them and relax, he really did, but it was getting too hard and his chest felt like it was constricting. Too much. It was too much. He could understand being quick and he knew why they had to check but he was starting to panic and he had to _get out of here_. Now. Or sooner. Sooner was better. He kicked one of them when something made him hurt. He could practically _feel_ his body starting to tear down there...

The blonde slapped his _shebs_. "Can you do something with him?! I just got kicked in the head!"

It would have been very satisfying had he not been about to pass out.

"And we're done." The red head nodded back at Boba and finally removed the thing that made him panic. He grabbed at the clothing, not caring if they saw the scars on his back. He just wanted _out of here_. Scars were just cosmetic... no one cared if he had scars because he was used for fighting. Not for being pretty... Boba walked out of there on shaky legs and stood behind the princess. He was very well aware that he was trembling and sweaty looking. Boba didn't care. The sooner he could dry heave in the bushes, the better. He was having a hard time telling what was memory and what was real.

Boba just barely heard that he was cleared to enter Coruscant and he was perfectly healthy, aside from the chest infection. He had no idea where they were going and it didn't even register. Escape could wait until he wasn't panicking. Boba collapsed in the back of a speeder and all but crawled into a corner. Right now, he was barely even aware of his own name.


	11. Panic Attacks

Why was Boba curled up in the back of the speeder and whimpering like a lapdog in the middle of a rainstorm?

Leia hadn't been a fan of the medical examination from the very get-go. She thought it would be humiliating for him and possibly even painful. He had even been shaking like a leaf before he had to go in there. That alone told Leia that something was up. She should have known better than to let him go in there alone. What kind of person was she? Was it her fault if he came out of this badly damaged? Leia sighed and rubbed her face in her hands. She didn't know what to do. Kateel might, but her transmissions were heavily monitored and even the ShadowNet had to be used in times of emergency. She needed to get in contact with Rogue Command. Also... maybe seeing another clone might make Boba happy. He'd probably get lonely, now that she thought of it.

She bent down to look at him. "I don't bite. I think you know that by now." He'd been getting on her nerves the entire way over here. Snarky comments? Check. Bad attitude? Check. And she wasn't going to mention that one time he asked Mothma why she even bothered to shave, it wasn't like anyone would see her down there. Or when he gave Leia a very long look and asked her if why they went to the toilet with perfectly clean water. She tried to remind herself that he had lived on a desert planet and he was a slave. He might not have ever seen more water than could fill a fifty gallon drum. Leia made a mental note to reprogram her droid when she got home. It was a fairly decent K-56 model and had a quirky personality of its own. The droid was going to show Boba a swimming pool and record his reactions.

Boba looked up. He shook like a leaf in a storm, his body tense. He was probably having an adrenaline rush or something like that. The possibility crossed her mind that this might have been a PTSD attack. Riyo's Chopper had them at times. He would act about like this and then he would hide. Loud noises and firecrackers set him off. But there hadn't been any firecrackers going off beside the clinic... She frowned and touched his shoulder. Boba didn't draw back like he usually did. He stayed very still, other than the fact his body was trembling under her hands. Leia pulled him up on the seat beside her and gently finger combed his short hair. Boba's eyes fluttered a little bit. Good. He liked that.

"It's okay," Leia softly said. "It's okay. Whatever they did to scare you like that, it's not going to happen again. I promise that, okay?" Boba was still shaking in her lap, but it was getting better. The trembling subsided after a few moments and he pulled away like he always did. A little bit of Leia was sorry to see him go. He needed help. Maybe more help than she could give him. A very large part of her wanted to drop him off at a therapy center with a several million credit donation. Hey, she could at least get the tax write off for her people if she did that. Leia shook her head. Boba was her mess. She had brought him to Coruscant and it was her job to take care of him. He needed the help. Badly.

"Sorry," Boba muttered. He settled back on the floor and looked down. His voice was raspy, like he'd been screaming. "Won't happen again."

"I'm not mad." Leia patted the seat beside her. Boba looked up and cocked his head like a dog. She hated that collar around his neck, too. It would have to come off. Slaves in her apartment building were supposed to be wearing collars, but maybe she could flout that rule some. He pointed at himself and mouthed " _me_?" Leia nodded. "Sit beside me. You're missing the view. I think you'd like it."

He nodded, wary, and sat beside her. Boba looked at the seat straps with cold eyes. He picked one of them up. "What are these?"

"Seat straps. You're supposed to wear them in case there's a wreck. That way we don't go flying through the wind screen and die." Leia reached over and buckled him up. Boba jerked. She was starting to figure that he had places where he literally did not like being touched. At all. That was okay with her, she just needed to learn them so she wouldn't freak them out. Boba looked out the window and made a muttering noise.

"What good are seat straps if we're flying?" he asked. "We'll just fall to the ground and die a painful death. I trust this thing less than I trust the Sun Barge."

_I don't think he likes heights. At all._

"You know that most Mandalorian armor has a jetpack, right?"

"I'll take it off and walk." He gave her another one of his "duh" looks and turned back to look at the city. Leia herself scrolled through the comm. "How do you trust this thing?! It's got a droid pilot, it can be hacked, and it's wobbling! I feel like it's going to collapse any minute." He crossed his arms and grumbled. "Did I mention that I don't trust this?"

"A few times. Relax, it's really one of the safest ways to travel." Leia looked around and saw that they were almost at her apartment. She could really use a cold drink, too. "We're almost there, Boba. Do you want to look at it?"

"No. I want to get off of this damn thing so I can stop feeling like I'm going to die any second now."

At least he understood the concept of "want".


	12. Green

Boba's jaw dropped the second he stopped shaking. Things called "speeder cars" that traveled hundreds of feet in the air were death traps. He was going to die in one of those because the engine was going to die or it was going to get shot at by pirates (were pirates a thing on Coruscant?) and he couldn't do anything to survive it because they were _hundreds of feet in the air like a pair of loons_. No, he didn't want to die today, thank you very much. The Great Pit of Carkoon might have some scenic beauty to it (plus an oasis with the best, biggest, best tasting fruit fig trees growing beside it), but it wasn't hundreds of feet in the air. Now a flying Sarlacc? He was going to run and hide in a closet and never come out again.

There was a waterfall going down the side of the building. Not just a little waterfall, one that could be caught in a collection basin and cycled up, this was a raging waterfall the size of a small river. Boba looked at it and cursed. All he could see was life saving water going to waste. It was hard enough that he could lean over and get a drink of water whenever he damn well wanted too. But to watch as a waterfall was used as aesthetics... He wasn't sure what he thought. Boba shuddered and grabbed for the transparasteel railing. It was very unnerving, seeing his hand grasp around what looked like glass, but he could take it. Boba tried not to look down. He'd grown up getting shaken around by the Sun Barge and fearing he'd be dropped off of it, to perish in the sands below.

He touched one of the plants growing up the side of the building. They were delicate blue mist ferns, so tender that he drew his hands back for fear of crushing them. Entire trees had been trained to grow up the side of the building and this nature feel was ruined by the massive bays of windows cut through the green. Boba thought he had never seen that much _green_ in his entire life. He'd been created on a watery planet, but he'd left there with his father when he was a child. And then...when he was eight, his father had been killed in front of him by a Jedi. Boba didn't want to think about it, but he didn't know what else to think when he held a small yellow flower in his hands for the first time in over twenty years. If Jango hadn't been killed, Boba wouldn't have grown up a slave.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" the princess asked. Boba nodded and looked at the other plants growing up the side of the building. He wasn't sure what this was, maybe a high rise apartment complex, but he didn't care. He'd only seen green in holo images for the past twenty years. He was going to enjoy this while he could. The princess made a low thrilling sound and a small bird like creature came flying out of the tangled up vine over one of the doorways. It's feathers were pure white and they looked like the lace that edged a Lirian noble's robes. Boba looked at it curiously. The creature ignored him and instead nuzzled the princess. Well. He knew where he stood.

"It's so green..." Boba whispered. He  turned around, trying to get a good look at the entire building. But it was so tall and they were so high up that he didn't want to look down. "I don't think I've ever seen this much green in my life." Not even on the nature shows that you could get on the pirate HoloNet, but Boba wasn't going to admit that he liked those. Slaves were already seen as less than a man as it was. At least they hadn't castrated him like they did some of the Twi'lek boys, to keep them pretty and delicate until they died ten years later from fragile bones. "There's...there's no much of it..." For a few seconds, he forgot that he was a slave and he forgot the collar around his neck. All he saw was the green.

"Let's go inside," the princess said. She took his hand and lead him inside. Boba followed, ever the good little slave. He looked around, mostly at the tasteful cream, grey, and gold decor. He liked it. There was a fireplace in one of the walls and more of the massive bay windows. "I'll give you the grand tour tomorrow. But first, what do you like food wise? Unless you can cook, because I'm not feeling it tonight."

He blinked at her. "I eat whatever you want me to eat."

"That's not helping." She crossed her arms. "I need suggestions. Do you like noodles? Spicy food? Rice? Curries? Something fried?"

"I like food that doesn't have cucumbers in it," he replied. Boba sighed and looked at her. "I was raised on cheap, expired Clone Wars era ration bars and whatever bantha and goat meat surprise came from the kitchens. If you stew goat hooves long enough, they actually taste halfway decent."

"Reminds me, I'll have the droids send for your antibiotics tomorrow," the princess said. Boba raised an eyebrow at her. She was going to waste medication on a slave why? He would either get better on his own or he would die. That was the way of it. Boba staved off another cough and settled down on the floor mat. She didn't even try to argue with him. "But I'm being serious. What do you like to eat? I don't want to cook and I'm trying to order take out that you'll like and eat. You're a little thin for my taste."

"If it's edible, I'll eat it," Boba finally said. "I really don't care, princess." What was it with the Nabu and making things more difficult than they already were? She should just pick something and then he would eat it.

"Then we're eating Tamilian tonight," the princess muttered. She gave him a dirty look and Boba invested himself in looking at a small statuette. For some reason, the collar did not spark and he wasn't on the floor, screaming in agony. The man just wanted some food and a cot in the corner. Getting rid of the annoying rattle in his chest would be nice, but not required. He was, after all, a slave. Was being a slave different on Coruscant than it was on Tatooine? He wondered if he was going to get his own sleeping mat or room or if he'd be required to sleep in the basement with the rest of the slaves. He knew from Bib that some slaves were chained in a cellar every night to prevent them from running away.

Boba watched her when he thought the woman wasn't looking. There...was just something about her that was so different than anyone he'd ever known before. It almost reminded him of the one kind Jedi he had ever met, the woman who gave him to his father: Shaak Ti.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who think I'm kidding about eating goat hooves:
> 
> https://snapguide.com/guides/cook-easy-yummy-lamb-feet-soup-or-curry/
> 
> Personal note: I have goats and I eat my goats. This makes a VERY good goat foot stew and it's also very funny to watch a person who liked this before you told them what it is look at you like you're crazy for daring to eat such a thing


	13. Getting to Know You Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it looks like this is going to be a slow burn... *glares at my muses*

Stewed goat hooves was a new one on Leia. In fact, she had no idea that you could eat the feet of an animal at all. And why would she? The Nabu didn't eat that much meat as a general rule and what meat they did eat was usually fish. It was only on Coruscant that Leia had really gotten a taste for the denser, tougher red meats that the rest of the galaxy preferred. A part of Leia wanted to ask Boba more about eating food like that, but she didn't want to upset him. He'd already been stunned by the speeder car and the examination. She didn't want to upset him any more than he already was. Slavery among the Nabu was very rare and what slaves there were generally functioned as companions. Watching two men, slaves, be fought to the death had both stunned and sickened Leia.

Boba seemed to like the small idol she had gotten from a friend of hers. The Lady of Order, or Lady Fa, was the Xian version of Ma'at, the goddess of Order. Both goddesses functioned to protect the balance of things and keep things going the way they were. Leia had gotten that idol from a very old friend of hers named Fy-tor Anna. Sadly, Anna had been killed on Bespin by Imperial Nova Troopers. It was Anna's death that had inspired Leia to join the Rebellion, not the lofty ideals of freedom, limited government, and the ending of slavery like Juno and Galen had. Those were good ideals, yes, but they were very innocent. Neither the Force user nor the pilot truly understood human nature like Leia did.

"I see you like the Lady of Order," Leia mused. She turned on the caff-maker, set it to making cinnamon apple tea actually, and gathered two mugs. Her new companion needed to be treated like one. Her adopted mother Breha had a companion, a Twi'lek woman named Neelah. Neelah seemed happy enough. Maybe Boba would get over being terrified of her and actually like her. He looked over at her, his hazel eyes curious. The sight almost took her breath away. The golden light from the window streamed in and illuminated the handsome planes and angles of his face. The way he held himself, when he thought no one was looking, was like an ancient Nabu god. But it was the way he held himself when she _was_ looking that concerned her. Boba hunched himself in. He made himself smaller, stooped down. It was like he was expecting to get hit.

He looked down and touched her ice plant. "You know, this thing feels like the things that used to grow outside the palace. I don't know what they're called, only that the leaves have water in them that you'll drink if you're thirsty enough. Course, those are blue and silver, not green."

"That's an ice plant. Otherwise known as the one houseplant I haven't killed yet," Leia explained. The caff-maker signaled it was done and she grabbed the two mugs. Boba shrugged and went back to looking at some of the other things she had around. She hoped he liked the tea. "Come, sit. I made tea." She hoped he liked it.

Boba gave her an odd look, but he walked over and sat down. Leia poured him a mug. He took it and gave it a strange look. Leia knew from talking with Sil'va and Dash Rendar that some rogues wouldn't drink or eat unless they knew it wasn't poisoned. Leia wondered if Boba was like that. She took a sip, though, and he paused a moment before taking the same. An odd look passed over his face. His head bent down and his eyes screwed shut. Boba gripped the mug tightly. It was like he was trying not to cry or something. Leia leaned over, concerned. What had she done this time? She was only trying to help and she'd thought that the tea would calm his nerves. After all, it was her favorite, second to the ginger and jasmine tea Mothma made.

He looked up and something glittered in his dark eyes. "My...my _buir_ used to make tea like this," he finally explained. "Just like this..."

"I'm sorry." Leia looked down and cursed herself. Out of all the tea she had, she had to pick the one kind that would upset Boba more than he already was. "I didn't know, Boba. I had no idea."

His rough hand covered hers and he looked at her with genuine confusion in his eyes. "Why do you care?" Boba finally asked. "Why do you care what food I want to eat? Or if the karking tea is upsetting me? Look, princess, I appreciate the concern for my health and well-being, but I'm just a slave. I've drank worse. That sap I was talking about? It made me barf for hours and damn near killed me. But you're sending me mixed signals here and I don't know what you want from me."

"Mixed signals how?" Leia had the feeling she didn't want to know, but she asked anyways.

"Most slave owners are only kind to a slave like me when they want sex and don't want drugged sex or me trying to take your throat out with my teeth," he bluntly said. "I tried that on Sil'va, okay? But before that he was as kind as a piece of bantha poodoo like him could be. Are you hungry, Boba? Here, take a sweetmeat. Are you tired? I don't mind if you sleep with your head in my lap. I won't tell, I promise. Are you thirsty? I'll get you water. Shit like that, okay?" He looked at her and rubbed his face with his free hand. Leia didn't know what to say. How did she explain to him that forcing a slave to have sex was essentially rape and that a slave could never truly consent to sleep with a Master? Boba sighed and looked down. "You either want me to not fight you and think it was my idea or you will order me to your bed. I've been a slave for over twenty years, princess."

"I will never order you to my bed," Leia hissed. She looked him his eyes, holding his stony gaze with her own. "Ever. You have my word." Leia leaned back. "The Nabu don't do slavery unless you count companions to the elderly as slaves. We don't force companions to have sex with us or sell them away from their children."

"Lucky you that I only have one kid," he mumbled. He took another drink of his tea. "That I know of." Something flashed in his eyes and he looked away. Was it sadness? Did he miss the child?

Leia almost choked. "Why didn't you tell me?!" He deserved to have his child with him... Leia didn't know what she would do with a small child, but she would try. Assuming that the child was young, anyways.

He shrugged. "The mother is a smuggler who liked the way I fought. The only reason I know that Ailyn even exists is that the mother, who isn't a nice lady, came to Jabba to bawl him out on why I didn't have the contraceptive shots like the male pleasure slaves had." Boba gave her a look. "I need my stuff, okay? I gotta have the aggression to fight and that's what he told her."

Leia shook her head. She was numb as she got up to get the delivery of food from the droids. What kinds of monsters had owned Boba before? She didn't know what to do with him. He had been used and abused all his life. How did she, one woman, change all of that and help him heal from the scars that branded his past? Leia didn't even know where to start. She watched as Boba wolfed his share down and licked out the carton. She promised herself then that he wouldn't go hungry again and maybe, just maybe, he would get his child back.


	14. What Is Wrong With You?

What was wrong with him? Boba really needed to know. There had to be something wrong with him. He was taking things the wrong way and he was annoying his Mistress. That was a way to get sold or shocked. He cursed himself softly and held her hand. It felt...good? He liked it? Her hand was so soft in his. It was missing the rough callouses from blade work or from using an _iklwa_. He liked a spear when it came to fighting. A spear had much more force behind it than a knife did and he could easily force it through armor. Boba drained the rest of his tea. The last day he'd seen his _buir_ , he had drank cinnamon apple tea over breakfast. It was such a fuzzy memory, but he clung to it nonetheless. He hadn't been born a slave. He had been born a free man and made a slave.

And then...less than two hours later, his _buir_ had been lying in two pieces with his blood staining the sand all around him. The Jedi who had killed his father had just left him to be captured by the Genosians. That was the day his life had become hell. Boba personally blamed the Jedi for it. One man, he knew, would be butchered in the same way Rook Sil'va would be. Mace Windu, the Dark Jedi, would be begging for death by the time Boba was done with him. He meant to kill the Jedi, should he ever seen him. Sometimes, he wondered if Windu was still alive or if he had died during Operation Knightfall. Boba didn't know which one he preferred. He just wanted the old bastard to be dead, really.

"What's a companion?" Boba almost didn't want to ask, but he needed to know. He had a feeling that there were sexual undertones to the whole deal, but he wasn't sure how far deep they ran. The last time he'd seen his daughter had been five years ago, anyways. He just hoped that Sintas had had the decency to take care of her kid and hadn't tossed the girl aside or sold her. Boba would have taken his daughter, out of familial duty more than anything else. _Aliit cuyir or'atu than tal_ , and all that nonsense. Native Mandalorians sold each other into slavery all the time. His father had been sold to Gordo the Hutt by a man he thought was his friend. Boba looked down and realized that the princess was still holding his hand. She wasn't touching him otherwise and he (maybe) sort of liked it, so he wasn't going to say anything.

_Best not to risk making her mad, either._

"A companion usually assists with the elderly or those who can't take care of themselves," Leia explained. "Naboo only started doing this after the Empire levied a series of heavy taxes on us and threatened to arrest anyone who couldn't pay. The problem was, the people didn't have anymore money to give. What my adopted mother did was buy a large lot of slaves from Zyggeria and distribute them through services the monarchy used to pay for. School teachers, nursing home aides, a lot of the labor and upkeep in the cities, things like that." She sighed and looked out the window. "It's worked. That and we allowed the Empire to start going after the gold deposits in the Gungan Swamp..."

"I hope they got eaten by a narglatch," Boba muttered. He'd killed those beasts a time or two before. A narglatch was a two or three hundred pound space panther with a toxic neck ruff on the males and a spiked tail for the females. They weren't as bad as a firewolf or a roc, but they were still hard to kill and as smart as a whip. Boba had seen too many other slaves be killed by a narglatch to ever underestimate them. He looked down at his hand again. Why wasn't she saying something to him? Did she like him? Did she actually want him in her bed and just didn't want to say so? He was confused right now, but who wouldn't be? "Imperial officers are the _worst_. Half of them don't use the karking oil and wonder why they get fined. _Di'kuts_."

"I did not need to know that."

Boba shrugged. "Sorry, princess." He wondered if he should call her by her name. Mistress Organa? Mistress Leia? Princess Organa? Senator? What the hell did she want him to call her?  This was getting too much and his head hurt.

"Leia would be fine." She finished her tea and beckoned him to follow. Boba did. He was very tired, the toll of the day was starting to wear him down, and he thought he would like to get a good night's rest before whatever she wanted him to do tomorrow. He followed her on silent feet, looking around. It was a very tasteful, if plain, apartment. Boba wondered how she could live here. He was a little cold, but he figured he could get used too it. "I'm sorry, but sometimes I can't use the comm-net for fear of tracking. I don't have a bed prepared for you, so you'll be sleeping in one of the guest rooms." She opened the door. "There's also an en suite shower and no one yelling at you about draining the hot water tanks."

He grimaced. "Yeah... I'm sorry about that." It wasn't his finest moment on that little ship. But he'd never had a hot shower before (at least not in twenty years) and he had all but fallen asleep under the spray. That was after he figured out how to turn the thing on _and_ how to adjust the shower head. "Not my finest hour." However, rubbing Mothma's feet for thirty minutes had at least put him back in her good books.

Boba hoped.

Leia opened the door. "It's yours, if you want it. I'm about to go to bed anyways, too. If you need anything just get up and ask me. Or ask one of the droids. Someone will take care of it."

He walked into the room like he was in a daze. "Holy mother of Murphy..." This was more space than Boba had ever had to claim as his own. He turned around slowly, jaw dropping. The room was _large_. Very large. There might not have been any green plants (he would have to ask about that), but it was **his** if he could believe her. Boba sank down on the bed and noticed that it gave under his body. He bounced up and down a little bit, grinning. When had he last done that? When he was an eight year old child? Boba ran his hands over the silken comforter. He was allowed silk? Not dirty cotton sheets or an old quilt that he'd begged for? And a pillow? A mattress? What had he done to deserve this? Boba had no idea. He sank back against the headboard and just looked around in awe. No _wonder_ you wanted to be sold to Coruscant!

Boba was almost afraid to use it for fear of getting the bed dirty. This thing was so soft that it made the mattresses on the ship feel like lumpy rock bags. He looked around, stunned. Leia might not have clothes for him, but she at least had a place for him to sleep in. It was fit for a prince, Boba thought. And the bed... it was so big he could lay sprawled out in the middle, spread eagle, and not touch the sides (not that he had tried that). Boba didn't notice that the princess had closed the door and left him, or that he was expected to go to sleep. He just knew that this was more than he had ever seen in his entire _life_. Boba swallowed a little bit as he got ready to sleep.

This life was going to turn him soft. And then...then it was going to kill him when he was sold again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Buir: father  
> 2). Aliit cuyir or'atu than ta: Family is more than blood  
> 3). Iklwa: a short, stabbing spear used for powerful thrusts and to break through plate armor  
> 4). Di'kuts: idiots


	15. One Step at a Time

She hoped that he liked where he was sleeping. Leia hadn't been able to comm ahead and have the droids prepare an actual room for him, so he was stuck with a guest room. If he liked it, she would fix it up for him and he could sleep there. She wasn't sure if he would or not, to be honest. Boba was a very strange man. Half of the time he seemed cold and distant, more like a droid than a man. Other times, he was warm and human. She shook her head after she got up. As expected, Mothma and the others wanted her to show up with her new slave. It seemed that Orn Free Taa, the disgusting excuse for a Twi'lek, had gotten wind of Boba. He was probably going to treat Boba like a prize Endor pony and ask for stud services. She knew Boba wouldn't take well to that. He had been used and abused, the last thing he needed was for that nasty creature to make it worse.

Tynnra would (maybe) forgive her. She knew Evidorn wouldn't. Taking a slave was something that the Rebellion stood firmly against. It really didn't matter that she wanted to save his life, what mattered was she literally owned another being.

Leia sighed. She needed to at least get him a decent breakfast as an apology for what was about to happen. Her normal breakfast was sweet rolls and a cup of hot caff, but he needed better than that. She cursed softly and went through her freezer. What would he actually _need_? She didn't want to over feed him and make him vomit. Mothma said that could actually happen. It was called refeeding syndrome and could actually kill him if she wasn't careful. From the way Boba ate, he had been starved before. He would wolf down whatever she gave him, she knew, but that didn't mean he could live off of caff and sweet rolls. 2-1B was always harping on her to clean up her diet anyways. Leia could start by taking care of her companion.

The Nabu princess had found the sausage when he walked in. It looked like Boba had decided to forgo the shirt and pull on the one pair of trousers he owned. Sharp hazel eyes watched her as she rooted around for the pain. She could tell from the corner of her eye that he had just gotten out of the shower. Leia _wanted_ to look, but she couldn't. It was likely that he had been sexually abused for most of his life and she wasn't going to make it worse. Last night, she had promised not to order him into her bed. Mentally, Leia expanded that to include undressing him with her eyes. For his part, Boba just watched her. He made no move from where he had draped himself the granite counter top. Leia did not need to turn around to know that he was most probably very lean and very well sculpted.

"Is your other shirt too dirty?" Leia tried to keep her voice very calm and very normal. There was a very handsome shirtless slave watching her like a gyrfalcon. Oh, it was not going to be fun teaching him the societal norms of Coruscant. Leia turned around and forced herself to look at his face. Boba, for his part, was impassive and just looked at her right back. "Also, it's only cucumbers that you can't eat, right?"

Boba shrugged. "That's right." His sharp eyes followed hers as she started trying to make something simple for breakfast. "What are you doing?"

"I'm cooking. It's something I enjoy." She gave him a wry look. Boba got up and walked into the kitchen. He looked curious and she let him look at the nuna eggs and the sausage patties. His eyes alighted on the caff-maker and she grinned. "Yes, yes. A pot of caff would be very good for both of us. The stuff is beside it, bottom cabinet." She mentally cheered herself for giving him a job to do. He was probably the type to get bored and she didn't want that. Boba rooted around to find the grounds and the filters as she grabbed one of the frying pans. Her mother used to make this for her on the weekends. It would really be nice if it made Boba feel a little more at home, too.

"What? Are you afraid the other senators will find out?" he dryly asked. Boba turned around. "If you go to jail, I get sold. I like it here, it's not a hell hole. Please don't get caught."

"I'm not going to get caught," Leia assured him. Winmey Lenz had tried, only to be cut down by _another_ one of the Rebellion's perpetual pain in the _shebs_. This one was named Dash Rendar and he liked to brag that he was banging Eaden Vrill and Kit Fisto. So apparently it was some big honor among the male population to be banging a pair of Force sensitive aliens who could breathe under water. Yes, because that totally made sense to her. Leia measured out what she needed and started frying it up. The noises behind her indicated that Boba had gotten the caff maker working. The grin he gave her was a grin like the tooka who got in the creamery would. This man had some serious issues and she had no idea how to help him.

Boba sat on the kitchen floor (why was that? Why did he always sit on the floor? Had that been beaten out of him at a young age?) and gave her one of his looks. "I've seen smarter people than you get hoisted by their own petard. You're not as smart as you think you are. You'll slip up and I will pay the price for it."

"Thank you for that resounding vote of confidence." Leia rolled her eyes at him and pulled the skillet off of the stove. She really wished that he wasn't as grumpy as he usually was. Yes, Boba had been a slave. But he was often nasty tempered, at least to her. Leia didn't have the ring on her, nor would she ever use it. Was that why he snapped at her? Because he knew she wouldn't use it on him to shock him? Leia gave him one of the bowls she had gotten out, along with a glass of orange juice. He wolfed the food down, as always, and was glad for seconds before Leia had even finished her firsts. She wondered if he was even tasting the food or if he was just swallowing it.

"I don't wanna die." Hard hazel eyes met hers and Leia was forced to look away. "Princess, you don't understand. My life is in your hands, okay?" He paced around the kitchen, looking frustrated. "You _own_ me. You get to chose what I wear, how much food I get to eat, when I can get water, when I can use the crapper, _everything_! And it's great now because you're not a jackass to me, but if you get caught and they go through your property? I'll be sold! That's how Unn wound up on Tatooine!"

Leia nodded, soberly. "I will be careful." It was best that Boba thought she was a dirty trader, not someone involved in the Rebellion. Would he even know about the Rebellion? It wasn't like Tatooine even got news from the Galactic City Daily...

Boba nodded and crossed his arms. "Yeah. And they'll catch you. They always catch you in the end. Just like Jabba's gonna catch that brat Han Solo in the end. They can never outrun the bad guys, you know? They always get caught and they always pay the price."

She handed him a mug of caff. "I know, Boba, I know." She sighed and wondered what she had gotten into with him. He was right--his life was in her hands. Boba was innocent in all of this, but he could still be caught up in the dragnet and be punished for things that he wasn't to blame for. Leia silently promised him that it would never happen like that. He would be set free, by hook or by crook. "You need to go get a shirt on. The speeder arrives in ten minutes and it won't do for us to be late for the Senate on your first day."


	16. A Snakepit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In advance, this chapter came to be after I took some medication for a head cold. I hope that I haven't destroyed your faith in my writing and I'm sorry that it's so damn long

One terrifying sky car ride later (it turned out there was a thing that he hated even _more_ than he hated the speeder) and Boba was shaking in his boots outside of the Imperial Senate building. Maybe that extra helping of eggs hadn't been his best idea, because his stomach was starting to scream at him. Boba liked to think he was too scared to be car sick, but experience would have told him otherwise. He got airsick on the blasted Sun Barge. Who was he to think that he wouldn't get airsick if he had to ride all the way through Coruscant, get buffeted by air currents, and almost lose his breakfast five minutes into the trip. There was probably a plus to actually riding in the seat and Boba was going to have to look into. He didn't think his Mistress would like it if he tossed on her lap.

The Senate building was huge. It was almost bigger than Jabba's entire land holdings (which were pretty damn big) and it was made of gleaming white marble that was somehow pristine despite the smoggy city air. Boba pitied the slaves that had to wash that thing. He steeled himself as he walked through the large, ornate doors. They had been covered in intricate copper work and were opened by a pair of Keshiri slaves. That made Boba do a double take. Keshiri were only owned by the wealthiest of people. They came from the planet Kesh and were a very slow reproducing species. Only a few of them a year were ever sold off world and not even as breeding pairs. Besides, Keshiri couldn't hybridize with any other race, so they were doubly rare with that.

If Boba had the money to own a pair of Keshiri (he was talking about five hundred thousand credits _per head_ ), he wouldn't have had them on door duty.

He got a sour feeling in his stomach as he walked. Boba knew he was only worth a few hundred credits at most. The last person who had tried to purchase him (which, of course, was Rook Sil'va) had started his offer at one hundred fifty. Most Native Mandalorians were only seventy five to eighty at the most, but Boba was a trained gladiator. He probably brought in about two hundred to four hundred credits to his Master. His stomach churned even more as he ran the numbers in his head. The Hutts and Zyggerians really did put a price on life. Boba took a deep breath as he walked in. The marble halls were cool and it seemed like they were surrounding him. He didn't like this place, but it was where his Mistress worked so he had to go with her.

"You can go in there." Leia gestured to a small, plain room off the side. Boba nodded to her and slipped inside. They weren't locked in, he noticed, but he did see several other slaves. A man that looked like him, possibly Native Mandalorian or a cross. Two Twi'lek females, no surprise there, they were a common slave race. A bored looking Zabrak kitten (that was just sad. The kitten couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen). One very broken looking Nautolan male. Judging from the scars on him, he had put up one hell of a fight before they finally defeated him. And a Pantoran female. She looked very bored. Boba just sat down on a very ragged couch and closed his eyes.

The only other human moved over to talk to him. He limped, like he had been injured many times and the wounds hadn't been healed well. Boba looked up at his face. He cursed softly, trying to get a better look. _The man looked just like his father_. Boba jerked up from where he had slumped over.

_What the hell...?_

The man walked with a horrible limp. There was a massive burn scar on his face, like someone had seared him with hot metal. Other scars decorated the exposed skin, he wasn't wearing a shirt, and it looked like this man had been shot. His dark red hair was long and wild. The hair was the only think that separated this man from Jango. The man collapsed beside Boba, weeping softly. He grabbed the other man's hand like it was a life line and he was about to be eaten by a Sarlacc. Boba growled and tried to pull back. The man looked at him and there was such raw, desperate hope in his eyes that Boba thought he had gone mad. The Nautolan male looked away, as if in shame, and the others looked interested.

" _Meg cuyir gar gai, vod_?" The man had a raspy voice, like he had been screaming.

" _Ni cuy' nayc gar vod. Ni vaabir nayc kar'taylir meg gar cuyir sirbur_ ," Boba replied. He looked around at the others, a little unsure of what was going on here. The Nautolan was rocking himself and babbling something that sounded like "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.", but Boba wasn't too sure. The man looked up at him with such broken eyes that Boba almost lost his breath. He reached up with a shaking hand and brushed through his hair. Boba jerked back. He had no idea what was going on and why this man thought they were related. Maybe their _buirs_ came from the same Clan or something. Boba did not like this, though, and his instincts were screaming at him.

" _Bob'ika, vaabir gar nayc partaylir ni_?" The man shook his head, as if he couldn't understand what Boba was saying. " _Ni kar'taylir gar tion'tuur gar rucuyir kih_."

" _Nayc, Ni vaabir nayc kar'taylir gar bal gar cuyir chaabar ni_ ," Boba snapped. He got up and shoved the man away. He fell back like he had been stabbed or something. "And do you know how much we could get it if they hear us speaking that?!" He shoved his hands in his pockets. Of all of them, Boba was the most conservatively dressed. And even he had a snug pair of trousers and a tight shirt. The others were borderline naked. "We could get beaten! Or someone could burn you again!"

The man laughed bitterly. "I did that to myself. If I couldn't kill myself, I could at least ruin my pretty face. You, little brother... you still have that pretty face of yours." He looked away and curled up beside the couch. "You go crazy, you know. When they take away your brothers and they make you a slave. It's not so different from being in the Army, only this time they had insult to injury." He sighed and looked down. "I've been whipped before. If they do it again... well, I hope they kill me."

He was so lucky to have been bought by Senator Leia Organa. She might have dangled the possibility of getting his daughter back in front of him, but she wasn't abusive and she didn't dress him like a sex object. She... she was kind to him. Mostly. Boba was getting a slap in the face of how lucky he was. He didn't know this man's name, though, and he wished that he did. How had they known each other? He remembered very little of Kamino, only that there was another face there. A younger version of him, but he didn't remember the name. But that boy had been so brave and bright that he couldn't possibly be the scarred and battered man Boba was looking at now.

" _Jax_?" A part of Boba wished this wasn't true, but then the man nodded. Boba turned his head, trying to keep his strength about him. He couldn't fold. Could never fold. Could never let them beat him and if they knew his old friend was here with him as a slave...

Jax pulled him into a stuff hug. "It's been years since I last heard my name and there wasn't a curse attached to it. They got you, too?"

Boba nodded. "Genosis. I was ten."

"Mace Windu is dead." Whatever light there was in Jax's eyes faded as he looked Boba straight in the face. "I know this because I pulled the trigger myself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Meg cuyir gar gai, vod?: What's your name, brother?  
> 2). Ni cuy' nayc gar vod. Ni vaabir nayc kar'taylir meg gar cuyir sirbur.: I'm not your brother. I don't know what you're talking about  
> 3). Buirs: fathers  
> 4). Little Boba, don't you remember me?  
> 5). Ni kar'taylir gar tion'tuur gar rucuyir kih: I knew you when you were little  
> 6). Nayc, Ni vaabir nayc kar'taylir gar bal gar cuyir chaabar ni: No, I don't know you and you're scaring me


	17. Orn Free Taa

Dealing with Orn Fee Taa was enough to piss Leia off on the best of days. But to have him questioning her about the human she had brought back from Tatooine? That was pushing it. She didn't ask him about Pampy or the white male he had. She expected him to not ask about Boba. Then again, Taa had more of an appetite than he had common sense. Leia had no idea how he got elected in the first place, or why he hadn't decided to retire and rest on his laurels. There was a Cham Syndulla that Leia personally liked and thought would be a much better fit than the corrupt old _sleemo_ was. She rubbed her face as she looked over the reports. They were supposed to debate new laws that would legalize certain drugs, but it was a foregone conclusion. The Emperor would not sign this into law.

"I want to see him." Taa followed her as she got up to get her own lunch. Leia swore under her breath as she grabbed food from the line. She was tired, her head hurt from filing several forms in triplicate, and she needed a nap. "I got a glimpse of him when you  were walking in. What is he? A Mandalorian? Half clone? I've never seen one that looks like that!"

"If I told you where I found him, I would have to kill you." Leia meant it, too. She sat down and looked around for Tyrnna or Mothma. Tyrnna gave her the bird and pointedly walked away. Mothma shook her head and walked away. Great. That meant that Leia was alone in dealing with this slime bag. Here was a man who let his own people be dragged off to slave yards, all for pay outs. She started eating her salad, not really wanting to talk about it. Last night, Kateel had mentioned that she and House Clawtooth were ordering a hit on him. Leia wondered if she needed to put up half the credits herself. One did not mention that she had been to Tatooine in front of Taa. The man could not keep a secret if his life depended on it.

Taa nodded, his four lekku flapping. It was all the fat, Leia thought. She shuddered to think of what Pampy and her companion, Meelah, dealt with on a daily basis. That could not be pleasant. "I see, I see. I know how it is. You found a decent supplier and you want to keep that to yourself. No harm, no foul. But what is he? Winmey has that clone of his and I must say, if your new friend is what a clone looks like when there's some decent care involved... He's really missing a treat. He really, really is. That, and they need to do in that stupid Nautolan. I can't imagine it would be very fun to have a mad man lying around. Hell, if he's that broken, he couldn't even get it up! Not that I would know that. It's just speculation."

"Boba is Native Mabdalorian," Leia calmly said. "He is also a highly skilled gladiator and my personal bodyguard when I'm not in the Senate building." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few of the purple aliens (what were they? Keshiri? Something like that?) come around with drinks. She let them refill her own drink and turned back to the disgusting excuse for a Rutian she was dealing with. "Speaking of, he probably needs to visit the gym or something like that. He's probably bored in there with the other slaves."

"I gave Jax cards," Taa retorted. "Along with enough credits to buy themselves lunch, if they don't all order prime nerf steaks. But I want to see him! Go get him, Senator. You're teasing me here. I only saw the back of him and I hate to say it, but he's the first truly beautiful human I have ever seen. No offense to most of your people, but I don't like shades of pink and brown. But your Boba? The hair, the eyes, the way he carries himself... If he wasn't wearing a collar, I wouldn't want to touch him! It's the fire in his eyes, you know. The way he looks at you and his gaze just _smolders_. The man just has something about him that unnerves me almost. I don't know why or how."

Leia nodded and got up. Anything to get away from Taa. Her skin was crawling. Taa talked about Boba like he was a prize show pony, not the man she was getting to know. He could be funny sometimes, it seemed like he had a very dry sense of humor, and he was full of wonder at a world that had been denied to him. Leia walked quickly down to the old break room and knocked. Meelah didn't bother to look up from fierce game of cards the Pantoran Sinja, Jax, Boba, Pampy, the very young Zabrak kitten who's name Leia didn't know, and the Nautolan. He didn't have a name and he was eating from one of the scattered take out cartons that had been scattered around.

"We need one more for bridge," Meelah noted. "I'm tired of getting my ass kicked by Jax!"

Jax snorted and dealt another hand. "Is it my fault that all we had to do on the transporters was Sabaacc?"

"He's cheating." Boba looked up and nodded at her. Leia just watched them. She hoped he would at least make a few friends here. "I've seen rogues do this before and I know the actual rules. We're not going by clone rules, we're going by casino rules." He dealt out another hand and rolled the dice.

"The casino rules suck and make my head hurt," Jax retorted. He looked up. "Anyways, do you wanna play? I'm tired of getting bitched at by--" He yelped and jerked up. From the looks of it he had been kicked under the table by Meelah. The Lethan just shrugged and looked up at her. Jax rubbed his shin. "As I was saying before I was rather _rudely_ kicked, you wanna play bridge? I'm bored of winning."

"Would that I could," Leia sighed. She leaned over the table. "I hate to break up the game, but I need Boba." Boba grimaced, but he stood up and followed her. He stuck his hands in his pockets. Leia could tell that he was a little irritated at her, but he needed to get this over with. Boba rubbed his face some. Had he been having a good time in there? If he was, she felt sick for going and getting him. Boba didn't say anything. He just walked with his face it's usual stony mask. Leia wondered if he had some real issues or if he was just trying to survive. She didn't know which and suspected that she didn't want too. The princess rubbed her face as she walked him into the cafeteria.

Taa jumped up when they walked over. Given the fact that he weighed as much as a small whale, that probably took some effort. " _Force_ , Organa! He looks even better in person!" He shook his head and walked around Boba. Leia regretted the clothing she had given him, as it was a little tight, but Taa wouldn't have cared either way. At least he wasn't touching. Boba, for his part, had gone stiff. His jaw was set and his eyes were dark. Far darker than usual. Leia had a sick feeling that something like that had always come before sex. Taa sat back down and shook his head. "I have no idea where you found this one, but wherever you did... you can't keep that a secret."

"I accidentally found her, sir." Boba kept his words clipped. It took all her training to see the strain in his neck and voice. "I was sent to the wrong room, but my Mistress liked what she saw and she bought me."

Taa nodded. "You should keep him in the Senate with you. You might get a few more votes with him there."

Leia stood up. The damage was already done, but she could limit it. "Actually, I'm going to take him back so he can finish eating. Good day, Senator." She took her leave of him and didn't have to look to know that Boba was following behind her. She just hoped that he wouldn't be too badly traumatized by what had happened.


	18. Humiliation

Boba had actually trusted her. He had let himself be lulled into a false sense of security with his Mistress, thinking that she wouldn't hurt him like all the others had, He had thought that the pretty gifts, the clothing, the food, the bed would come and he wouldn't have to pay for them. Boba had heard all about the trained pleasure slaves that came from Nar Shadda. That had been Unn. He didn't talk about what had happened to him, only that it had been very unpleasant. He knew that Senator, too. Orn Free Taa was well known when it came to the slaves. He wouldn't leave you bloody and crying, but he wouldn't be gentle, either. As far as Boba cared, there was no gentle way to force a slave. And if that was what his Mistress wanted him to do...

His skin seemed like it was burning. He couldn't hear much of what was being said, only that Taa was saying that he was a cheeky one. It seemed that the Twi'lek liked Boba's spirit. Well, Boba was starting to regret that he had come with the princess after all. He settled his gaze back into its mask as he stalked back. Boba did not know if he could take much more of this. Native Mandalorians tended to be fighters if they had been eating well and Boba was going on several days of a full belly. He had the energy to run off right now. Hell, he might even join up with a freighter crew or find another job that took a man with a slave brand. Boba shook as he walked. He didn't feel like he could deal with the princess and her two faced lies anymore.

"I'm sorry." The princess touched his wrist.

Boba jerked back, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't kriffing _touch me_!" He jerked his hands back, breathing hard. Boba was having a hard time keeping the shock and fear from the betrayal off of his face. He growled dangerously. Boba's eyes narrowed and he jerked back as best he could. The princess had been nothing but kind to him before this, excluding the slap. Was it all to make him more compliant later? To make it so he would willingly submit? Boba didn't know and he didn't want to find out. "Why did you bring me here?! To show me off to all your friends? So you could score points with your friends by whoring me out? I would have liked some notice if you were going to do that!" So he could escape. But why was this hurting so much?

"I tried to talk him out of it!" Leia snapped.

"Try _harder_ ," he growled. His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits and he could actually see himself breaking her neck. For a few days, he had thought he was safe. He had thought that the nightmares were left on Tatooine. He had thought that he wasn't going to be touched like that ever again. That beings like Rook Sil'va were a thing of the past. Boba saw that he was shaking and he leaned on the wall for support. The princess moved to touch his hand. Boba jerked away from her and almost wound up stumbling. He didn't know what he wanted right now, just to get away from here. The princess was going to betray him, he just knew it. "Do you know what it _feels like_? When he touches you? When they look at you and they don't see a person, they see a toy?"

"I'm sorry." She swallowed and touched his arms. This time, Boba let her. He was shaking like a leaf, almost like he was a young child again. Like he had the day he had lost his father. The princess swallowed, but she didn't move her hand from his arm. It... was grounding, in a way. It made him feel like something was still holding him down. Like an anchor. The Sun Barge had an anchor, much like he had right now. Boba didn't know if he liked this or not. All he knew was that it was a little unnerving and he had to deal with this. Boba growled and jerked back. It wouldn't do for a slave to get attached to his Mistress. That never worked well. It only ended in tears and heartache for the slave involved.

"You have no idea what I've dealt with," Boba hissed. He lowered his head some, glaring at the princess. She seemed to shrink back from his gaze. Good. That meant he could get to her if he really wanted too. A part of Boba was surprised that she hadn't used the collar on him. He was certainly mouthing off to her now. He decided that he wasn't going to look a gift bantha in the mouth. Boba swallowed and looked away. "Stuff...stuff like that comes before a slave gets sold, okay? Usually to a brothel or a place like the palace."

"I didn't know." The princess sighed and stuffed her hands in her pockets. "Look, just go back with the others, okay? I'll... I'll try to make it up to you later."

He gave her a curt nod and walked away, still a little reeling over the fact that he wasn't punished for speaking his mind.


	19. Tynnra

Leia had no idea what she had done. She knew it hurt him, though, and her hands were shaking. There was a _darkness_ in his eyes. The smoldering fire that Taa loved so much had almost erupted and hit her, full in the face. She hadn't liked it, but he must have taken it hard. Leia realized that she knew next to nothing of Boba's past. He must have been abused. Must have been tortured for most of his life. Leia knew for a fact that many slave owners tried to keep their slaves from using Mando'a, Tamilian Creole, or the slave language on Tatooine. She didn't know what that one was called. Controlling their language made it much easier to control the local population. She was pretty sure that Boba's old Masters knew that.

She went back to the Senate chamber and tried to focus. Her hands shook as she drafted a bill that would permanently and irrevocably end all forms of slavery, be it debt or chattel. Boba was a debt slave, she thought. She had bought his debt when she bought him. It was only about one hundred and fifty credits, but it was far more than Boba would ever earn as a slave. Jabba had also charged him for his food, water, and up keep. In short, the entire system was designed to keep Boba legally a slave. That made her blood boil. Leia growled a little to herself. She had to look into therapy for Boba and a way to get him skills for a new life. Literacy was a big one. She wasn't sure if he could handle a blaster, but if he could... he could make a small fortune as a security guard.

Tynnra found her after the Senate had disbanded for the day. Leia knew she looked bad, but she didn't care. She needed to get Boba and just go home. Would he still hate her? Would he still be scared? Leia had a feeling that she had lost every bit of ground she had gained with him over the past week. If they were back to dock one... she would not be happy. Leia sighed a little bit and rubbed her face. She didn't look at the dark skinned woman, didn't feel like she could face her. Tynnra had Soleilin roots and old Soleil was famous for being _very_ biased when it came to skin color. That was one place Leia actually thought that the Empire had done some good. Against all the odds, they had stabilized the political firestorm known as Soleil.

"What were you thinking?" Tynnra crossed her arms and glared at Leia. Leia sighed and looked down. She didn't have a good excuse for this and Tynnra had to know it. Tynnra had all the skill and patience of a Soleilin bow hunter and she was cold enough to turn that on her former friend. "I'm serious, Organa. You had to be thinking _something_!"

"They were going to kill him." Leia finally raised her head and glared back at her friend. Tynnra had a very stormy personality. She could be mercurial, as wild as the winds of the sea. Leia usually valued that, but she didn't at the minute. Sometimes, the fighting dog killed and ate the Chausie cat. Leia pulled her friend beside her as she walked to the unused break room. The slaves liked it there, probably because they could get a little rest from all that their Masters did to them. "They were going to throw Boba in a Sarlacc Pit while he was still alive. Apparently, the Hutt who owned the place had cameras inside the blasted thing so he could watch as his enemies and worthless slaves were digested over a thousand years."

Tynnra shuddered. "What did he do to deserve _that_?"

"He tried to rip a man's throat out with his teeth," Leia replied. And if Bossk had been telling the truth, Boba had damn near succeeded. That might have been why he was muzzled afterwards. Leia had seen the muzzle the man had worn. How had he been able to eat or drink out of that thing? She knew it had been locked around his head (it was one of the tools for "training" him that she had refused). It must have hurt, must have shattered what was left of his dignity. Leia shivered a little bit. "Oh, I know. He's not exactly that Nautolan Kron Fosum has. Boba has fight left and I didn't want him to be completely shattered."

"That sounds horrible," Tynnra softly said. She sighed and gave Leia a little bit of a look. "I still don't like the fact that you bought a slave, but I can deal with you trying to save his life. Just... be careful. You know how Taa can get when he sees something pretty."

"They already met," Leia dryly said. "It did not not go well at all."

"I could have told you that," Tynnra replied. "You take better care of him, okay? I need to catch a lift back to my place. Just be careful, Leia. Don't let him poke through things he doesn't need to be going through."

Leia nodded. She went to collect Boba and noted that he wasn't talking to her. He had his eyes down and his face like a stone mask. The man was clearly at odds with himself. Leia sighed. This was not going to go well, mostly because she didn't have the tools to deal with it. Leia just got him to sit beside her on the skycar. She would deal with this later and maybe treat him to a tram ride or a trip to the gardens later. This was her fault, after all.


	20. Battered Pride, Bruised Faith

Boba didn't feel like talking to his mistress. All he wanted to do was curl up in his bed or take a scalding hot shower so he could forget all the filth of being touched by that _monster_. He didn't like Orn Free Taa, if that was who the Twi'lek was. He thought that the man was a piece of garbage and needed to be treated as such. Boba shuddered softly. He put his head in his hands, wondering what he had done to deserve all of this. It hurt too much inside. He had trusted Leia and she had betrayed his trust. They always did. Leia would be but the latest in a long line of betrayals. First was his father, for dying. Then was the Genosian Queen, by selling him into slavery instead of honoring his father's wishes. Mace Windu, Rook Sil'va, Jabba... the list went on and on.

Next to his father, though, Leia hurt the worst and Boba didn't understand why.

The man sighed softly. He trailed her, walking numbly. She mentioned something about going to a tram or a garden (what was that?), but he didn't care. Boba just followed her. Leia seemed to be very sad, though, and took his hand. Even though he was upset, he liked it. Boba allowed himself to smile into the rare gesture of comfort. He was a slave. He was expected to put up and shut up. Every time he got just a hint of comfort was good for him. Boba walked with her to what looked like a sort of monorail system, though. Boba looked up some. At least it wasn't a damn sky car or something like that. He perked his head up. Maybe this would be okay, after all. Though he did wish that he could still talk to Jax...

The other clone had slipped him what looked like a scrawled comm number on the back of a take out receipt. Boba didn't have the heart to tell his childhood friend that he couldn't read. He just carefully folded the paper up and rubbed his fingers on it. It felt good to know that he could contact his friend...maybe. Boba couldn't read and he couldn't have a comm. The last time he'd touched his Mistress's comm, he'd been slapped for it. Boba didn't want to repeat the experience. He sighed softly. The man was very tired. He just wanted to curl up and sleep, but he had to be with his Mistress. She walked him into the tram and sat down beside him. Boba realized he was still holding her hand. She didn't say anything about it, though, so he didn't move it.

"I'm sorry," she softly said. Leia gently cupped his face, her brown eyes concerned. Boba growled and looked away. He didn't want to talk to her. He just wanted to be left alone. However, he did admit that it was very nice to hold someone's hand and not be terrified of them. He smiled weakly at her after a few minutes. It was a sort of apology, but he figured that she wouldn't take it. After all, he was just another slave. Just another worthless being to be used and abused by the galaxy. Boba sighed softly. He really did want to be left alone, but he could manage it for now. Leia looked down before offering him a hard candy. "I know this isn't going to make it up to you, but I really am sorry."

"Why?" Boba softly asked. He looked down, aware that he was probably irritating his Mistress. Did he care? Nope. He just wanted to be left alone, but he could do that and not irritate his Mistress at the same time. He liked eating... even if his barbecue bowl had been a little bit spicier than he could handle. He had powered through anyways, though. Lesson number one a slave learned: you never could be very sure of when your next meal was coming from. So he ate whenever he had the chance and ate as much as he was allowed. He grumbled under his breath some. His belly was _really_ appreciating that choice right about now... he sighed softly and rubbed the aching spot. Maybe eating that wasn't his best idea.

"Because you are a man." The look in her eyes was bold and fierce. She was like a sand lioness: she wouldn't back down. Not without a fight or trying to tear her opponent to shreds. Boba decided that he liked that. If he had fire in his eyes, she had the eyes of a sand lion. He decided that it would be a good match. If he was to be her companion, he would have to trust her. Some. Leia took both of his hands and squeezed them. "You are a _man_. Not a slave. Not an animal. Not anything but a _man_. And don't _ever_ let them tell you anything different!"

Boba nodded and leaned back on the tram, right before his stomach lurched. He doubled over and vomited. All over his lap, the seats, and her lap.


	21. What a Mess You Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently this is now a character study of angst. Oops. That was never intended and I'll try to fix that soon

Leia jumped back. What did she do now? Why was he sicking all over her? Boba held his belly and whimpered, eyes fluttering closed. Leia chose to ignore all of the stuff on her and pulled the slave into her. His dark skin was paler than normal, his eyes fluttering between open and closed. She cursed softly. There was no telling what he had eaten. Boba couldn't read. He couldn't look at the list of ingredients and know if he was getting something that would make humans sick or not. He whined softly, pressing his filthy face into the crook of her arm. Leia petted his hair with his free hand and tried to call a service droid. She mentally kicked herself. He had no reason to trust her now. He probably thought this was some sort of kriffed up plan to hurt him.

"It's okay," she whispered softly. "It's okay, _yah'sii_." She tried to soothe him, wondering what her mother would have done. Breha was very good at situations like these. She just had a way about her that soothed those around her. Leia hoped to channel that with Boba. " _Net kalmeer, dit sal goed wees_." When spoken properly, not butchered like the Gungans did it, spoken Nabu had a very poetic, lyrical sound. Only Ancient Akiran, one of the languages used in the Outer Rim, had the same quality. A skilled singer, who knew the old ballads, could hold a dining hall in rapture for hours if he or she so chose. Leia had wanted to be a singer, but she just didn't have the pipes for it. "It's gonna be okay."

"S-sorry," he mumbled. He didn't look at her, but Boba didn't move from where he had collapsed. The service droid came and started cleaning up the tram car. Boba and Leia were escorted out. She took the chance to comm a cab and just go home. He had lost his lunch. The last thing he needed was to be dragged through the mud. Leia helped him walk. He wobbled some on his feet, his eyes a little crossed. Leia didn't mind the ruined shirt. She did note that he slipped a scrap of paper in his shoe when he thought she wasn't looking. It hurt her some, to know that he still didn't trust her. But that was to be expected, after all. A battered pit pony never recovered after just a week of rest. It took months, even years, to undo all the damage done.

Leia got him to her apartment and hustled into into his shower. "You go wash, okay? If you fall or something, call me. But otherwise... just go and get clean, okay? I promise you'll feel better." Leia left him to his own devices. The last thing he needed to do was slip and fall, but there was little she could do to help him if he didn't. She sighed softly as she went to go make tea for him. None of the apple cinnamon tea, that was probably the last thing he needed, but some plain black tea with a little honey in it. That, and a bowl of rice. If he was sick, he needed to rest and recover. If it was just an upset belly, he could have a carbonate and recover that way. But either way, he just needed to rest.

Boba came out after a few minutes. He looked better, he wasn't as pale as he used to be, and his eyes were brighter. Leia noted that he had chosen the looser outfits she had gotten for him. After all, she had to guess his size. He had left Tatooine with a pair of trousers and a shirt. Nothing more, nothing less. The collar didn't count. Boba draped himself over the counter and looked at the bowl of rice. "'m not hungry."

"That's okay." Leia sat across him on a bar stool and touched his arm. He seemed to like that. Much like a frightened tooka, he froze for a minute before relaxing into the touch. "I made you some tea, though. I would rather that you drank it than not." Leia slid him the cup and he took a big gulp. She cringed some. Of course, no one would teach a slave manners. She might have to work with him on that.

The dark skinned man pulled a face. "It's...weirdly sweet and I'm not sure I like it...?"

"I put several tablespoons of honey in it," Leia explained. "To soothe your throat."

He nodded and downed the rest of it. "I like honey. It's good for when you need a quick energy burst. Some of the fighters like that new drug called ambrosia, or something like that. It's like a combination of meth and glitterstim--only it burns you out twice as fast and leaves you rotting in a gutter. Not even the carrion birds will eat that corpse." Boba shudered some and she wondered if he had first hand experience. "And a meat ship? A meat ship'll take a disease riddled, half dead Zabrak with the kitten still hanging out of it before they'll take an ambrosia addict. I think Jabba started throwing those to the Sarlacc. Ambrosia is bad for business."

Leia looked a little queasy, not sure how to respond. She rubbed her face. How was one supposed to respond to that? Especially after talking about a dead mother and child being sold to something called a meat ship? Leia was starting to think that Boba needed some serious help. "I... see that. I had no idea ambrosia even existed."

Boba snorted. "It's said to be made out of the souls of dead Force users, okay? Personally, I think someone combined some cheap meth and even cheaper glitterstim and started marketing it to pit fighters."

"Did you ever use drugs?" Leia needed to know. If he had taken something that might hurt him down the road...

"I smoked weed with Bib and Unn," Boba shrugged. "That _osik_ , though... I don't think they were giving me stuff for humans, okay? Other than that, though... I wanted to take some stuff, okay? I really wanted it. The better fighters got the first dibs on the food, they didn't have to play the bitch for Jabba's guests, they weren't tossed down the Sarlacc if they got nasty injuries... the list goes on and on. Then I saw a couple of fighters die from an overdose and I realized that you couldn't play with that stuff." He cracked a rare smile and rubbed his face. "I remember some street preacher coming to the palace, yelling about the sins of drinking and using that stuff. 'Say no to drugs, kids' was his punchline or whatever it's called."

"What happened to him?"

"He's still rotting in the Sarlacc, I'd guess." Boba got up, as graceful as a large cat, and got himself some water. "He wore out his welcome pretty quick after he tried to push religion on the big slug. Bib said the guy didn't even fight as they dumped him in." Boba drank some water, closing his eyes in pleasure. "I hope whatever god he was selling that day decided to take mercy on him. The Sarlacc's not a nice way to go."

Leia shook her head some and gathered her papers. "Alright, then. I'll go study some of these reports and you go rest. You got that?"

Boba shrugged, his dark eyes very keen. "Sure I will. As soon as you tell me what that eagle means. I know what copper and rare earth symbols look like and I drew your symbol for Jax. He said you're a rebel. So are you a rebel or are you not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Yah'sii: A Nabu word used for a small child. Literally: little one  
> 2). Net kalmeer, dit sal goed wees: Just calm down, it'll be okay


	22. Hitting the Nail on the Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand it has been way too long since I updated!

Boba was very aware that he had just crossed a line he couldn't go back over. He had a feeling that he had just crossed the Nede River when it came to dealing with his Mistress. But Boba couldn't let this go. If this princess was a rebel, she could get him captured and executed as one, too. Boba took in a sharp breath. What was he supposed to do? The man rubbed his face some. He had to stay strong, though. He couldn't let his Mistress see that he was afraid and willing to back down. He was expecting to get shocked, really. Any Master or Mistress he had had before would have shocked him. Some of the Masters would have pinned him down on one of the couches and kriffed him until the blood ran down his legs and he was begging them to stop.

Leia just looked at him. She looked like she wanted to scream or something, but not like she was going to strike him or shock him. Boba braced himself, though. She had struck him before and she would do it again. Boba forced himself to stay strong, though. He had to get the information out of his Mistress, even if he had to pleasure it out of her. He had done it before. Boba bared his teeth like he was a young Cathat and stepped back. The last thing he needed to do was get sold. But would she sell him? She might sell him to a whorehouse where he would be ripped open every night and riddled with disease by a week. No one would care about him there. If she wanted to get rid of him.... There was nothing he could do about it. He was just a slave and that was all he would ever be.

"You have no idea what you're about to get into," she warned him. Leia seemed tense, like she couldn't quite decide what she wanted to do. Good. That meant that he had a chance of getting the truth here and not being blown off. Boba gritted his teeth and tried to look like he knew what was going on. "You can step back and go sit on the couch again. Pretend like you never raised that question. Because I don't think you'll like the answer."

_So is she a rebel?_

"I deserve to know!" Boba spat. "Unlike you, I'll be sold! I won't go to prison, I won't have my head lopped off by some Imperial! _I_ will be sold!" His stomach was rolling right now, but Boba didn't care about that. She was almost shaking with rage. That was the last thing he wanted to have happen. "Wasn't this supposed to give me a better chance or something?! To help me?! Then why the hell are you dragging me into some stupid scheme to overthrow the Emperor!" The glare he shot her could best be described as _toxic_. Boba paced. He had no idea what to do right now, but he might as well keep on going. In for a penny, in for a pound. Whatever that meant. "Princess, I don't have the protections you do! A _dog_ has more standing in a court of law than I do!"

"I'm trying to help you!" she yelled back. "It's been what, a week? Most of that was spent in space! You can't read, Boba! You can't even write _your name_! How will you know if someone's gonna take advantage of you? What would you do, join the stormtrooper corps?"

"Maybe!" That sounded like a _really_ bad idea, now that he thought about it, but Boba wasn't giving her that. He growled at her and narrowed his eyes. "All I'm asking for is the truth. Like I'm a free man, okay? Isn't that the purpose of this exercise? Make Boba a Free Man Just Like Everyone Else?" Did he have to say that this was a stupid idea? Boba knew how slavery worked. Former slaves had a hard time being free and some Twi'leks even chose slavery over freedom. "Then why are you lying to me and putting my _life_ in jeopardy by not giving me a head's up?" He gave her a dark look and flopped back on the couch. "Half the Imperial officers don't even use lube on male prisoners, ya know. I'd like to maybe know so I can get my mind wrapped around the fact that I'm gonna be a kriff toy again. It's common human decency."

Leia crossed her arms. "I hate you."

"I figured that." He shot her a look and wondered why that hurt him so much. Slaves bonding with their owners was a very bad idea. She was going to sell him, so he needed to nip these feelings for her in the bud. He really didn't know what they were, come to think of it. Just that he would be very willing if she wanted him. It was a strange thing, to actually feel somewhat excited over wanting to be with a person. Boba had a "quick tongue" and he figured the princess might like that. The dark haired slave shrugged some. "But the fact still remains that your poor life choices could wind up costing me big time. I would like to know, alright? And besides, who could I tell?"

She sat down beside him, giving him another dark look. "Alright, fine. Yes, I'm in the Rebellion. Not one of the higher ups, no. But I'm in the business of getting information out of people." Leia shrugged some. "You might say that I'm a slicer. I can also use the princess charm to secure money for our cause. Did you know that Tatooine is a major consumer of water and wheat products? Several rebel shell companies sell those things. That was why I was on Tatooine. Then I saw you in the pits... and the rest they say is history."

"They don't give the water to the slaves." Boba looked down some. She would never understand the awe of turning on a faucet and drinking cold, clean water. She had never had to drink from sulfur springs or from dirty, communal buckets with wooden dippers. She had never had a water ration. She could just turn on a shower, she had never had to worry about getting clean. "Most of it goes to Mos Epsa or Mos Eisley. The slaves... we usually drink out of the sulfur springs, to be honest. It's warm and it's nasty, but it's water." And to go to a planet where they just wasted that precious water left and right... Boba would never understand that. For him, water was still something vital.

"I'm sorry," Leia whispered. She took his hand in hers and he clung to her. Boba didn't realize there were tears in his eyes until he felt the wetness on his cheeks. "I promise you won't be sold if you're caught, okay? I'll set something up where custody of you will transfer to my parents. I promise you'll be taken care of."

"Thank you." Boba pressed close and wondered why he was so weak. He should have been stronger. He shouldn't have been upset about being sold or cinnamon apple tea. He wondered what his father would have done if he was still alive. What would have happened to him? Would he have been a slave? Would he have became a bounty hunter like his father was. "Thank you so much. You have no idea what that means..."

Soft lips on his forehead stunned him and when he looked up, she had a sort of sad smile on her face.

"No," Leia agreed. "No, I don't know." She suddenly pulled him into a hug and Boba hugged her back as best as he was able. Touch was something he had craved during his long years of being a slave. And now... now he had that. Boba didn't know his knuckles were white or that he was shaking. "But I promise to take care of you and I _always_ keep my promises."


	23. A Losing Battle

Getting manumission papers was proving to be a major pain in the _shebs_.

Leia bit her bottom lip. She had already drawn up custody papers for Boba in the event that she was captured or killed. Those she could get rubber stamped at her leisure and she had already sent them off to be dealt with. Now all she had to do was draw up papers to set Boba free. This was proving to be much harder than just waving her magic wand and telling Boba he was free to go ride his bantha off into the sunset. She groaned some and flicked on the lamp. Boba had volunteered to keep her company for some strange reason and now he was sacked out beside her. His quiet snores filled the small study and she looked over to glare at him more than once. Couldn't he find somewhere _else_ to sleep?

Apparently not. The dark skinned man slept beside her, his black hair already ruffled up from where she had messed with it. Leia liked doing that. It made her feel good, made her feel calm. Boba seemed to like it, too. He never told her not to do it and he never shied back from her. She often had to read his body language. Thanks to the fact that he'd been a slave, he wouldn't always tell her if he didn't like something. And he'd been hungry. That made it hard for her to find what he liked or didn't like. Boba would eat just about anything, but raw Sundarese squid had been pushing it. It had been pushing it with Leia, too, but she couldn't refuse the food without insulting that Senator. She needed his vote, too.

Her comm buzzed and Leia looked down. She frowned some. Han Solo wasn't commonly with the Rebellion, but she was willing to take the help when she could get it. Leia stood up, took the call, and sat beside one of her meditation fountains. The sound from the water would cover up any of the transmission that her hot waffle might miss. She rolled her eyes some and hit the call. "This is Leia Organa. Might I ask who's calling?"

"Yeah, it's Solo here." The voice on the other end was rough and gruff. She'd noticed that Boba didn't really like the man and decided to ask him why later. Often, slaves were privy to information that others wouldn't have. Boba was very smart, too. He had quickly picked up reading, even though he was coming into it much too late. The few weeks he had been on Coruscant were good for him, she thought. Leia sighed some as she waited for the other man to start talking. "Maz told me to tell you that the shipment would be late. Said the guy pissed off Storm again. Something like he owes that crew credits and didn't wanna pay the piper? Yeah, well, that crew took it and sold it. Whatever the hell you're buying from KDY just wound up in the Chaos Quarter."

Leia let out a long string of colorful curses. "Please tell me this is a joke, Captain! _Please_!" She didn't know what she'd do if she lost another cargo to that pain in the ass pirate! It wasn't like the "dread pirate Storm" didn't have a galaxy full of ships to rob! No, she had to be a pain and take on the Rebellion. As Leia saw it, this was a pissing contest. Storm was marking all over Leia's things... and she knew that Leia couldn't do a thing about it. She and Captain Andor had just ordered several brand new X-wings and Y-wings from KDY. They were already pushing things with what "protections" IronFist had. Oh, if she _ever_ met that smug pirate... It wasn't going to go well for a certain pirate.

"I wish I could," Solo reported. "The worse news is that she skinned the guy and killed most of his crew. You're down Joel and his band of smugglers."

Joel had been a piece of sentient garbage. Just like Rook Sil'va, but not as sleazy. He must have done something really bad to anger Storm the way he had. Leia didn't know what he had done or why, just that he had annoyed that pirate and paid the price for it with his life. There were some times when she wished she could be much more selective with who was working for them and this was one of those times.

"At least we have you," Leia joked. Solo only worked for Jabba to clear off his debt. Unlike Dash, who was doing this because both of his Nautolans wanted this, Solo was only doing it for the money. "Speaking of, when are you coming to pick Boba and I up?"

"You're expecting me to live on a ship with Boba- _Karking_ -Fett." The voice on the other end of the line got very cold and Leia wondered what sort of bad blood was between the two men. Boba could put up and shut up. But Solo couldn't. He would be poking this bear until Boba lost it. "I knew you were crazy, but not **that** crazy! Look, Princess, that guy has been killing since he was fourteen. He's pretty damn good at it, too. Only guy I know that could beat me when it comes to shooting skate, ya know? I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him!"

"Well, he's mine now." Leia crossed her arms. "When are you coming, Captain Solo?"

"Next week. I'll comm you." The line dropped dead and Leia rubbed her face.

She glanced back in the room and looked at her sleeping slave. She rather liked Boba and a part of her feared that he would leave her once he was free. He could be very vulnerable at times and she liked to think that he trusted her. Leia sighed some. She woke Boba up, wasn't surprised that he followed her like a tired puppy, and let him curl up beside her in her bed. She tried to push him to the other side, but he insisted on curling up with her. She managed to go to sleep that night, wrapped up in the arms of a slightly sweaty former gladiator.

It was the safest she had ever felt.


	24. Unwanted Feelings

Boba woke up the next morning with the sun streaming through the window panes. At first, he didn't want to get up. He was too warm, too cozy, and far to comfortable to get up and face the day. What would he be expected to do? Go be a page boy at the Senate? That job was actually rather boring and he had to deal with some _shebs_ grabbing by some of the Senators. Boba yawned and buried his face back in the mane of hair. In one of those rare moments before your brain catches up with your body, Boba felt...peace. He wasn't on Tatooine, being roused before suns rise to stretch out of provide manual labor for the kitchens. Nor was he being prodded like a prize razorback deer. He was just warm and snug.

And then the person beside him rolled over.

Boba yelped and jumped back. He started breathing hard, trying to quash the memories that threatened to rise to the surface. The last time he'd woke up like this, he'd been pinned by some alien beast and "bred" before finally being let up. That one had gotten him a week of rest, mostly because he could hardly walk after that thing was done with him. Boba shuddered. He looked around, feeling the bile rise in his throat. His Mistress gave him a sleepy look and dropped her head back down. Boba took a deep breath. He was wearing the clothes they had been wearing last night (she had changed into a loose top and pants). No one was naked. He wasn't bleeding or bruised. He was just...sleeping in his Mistress' bed. Boba groaned some. That was just a horrible habit to get into, by the way! The last thing he needed to do was offer himself to his _owner_.

"You snore." Leia got up and swung the covers over his side. Boba leaned back, not sure what to do. "Also, I don't think you understand personal space or what it means when you get an elbow to the ribs."

"Sorry," Boba muttered. Come to think of it, his ribs were a little sore this morning. He sighed some and rested his head back. Just his luck. Just his luck to wind up sharing a bed and not get kriffed for it and he has to ruin it by snoring and apparently snuggling her. And that was when he looked down and found an embarrassing problem. Boba swore under his breath and arranged his blankets. Maybe the princess wouldn't see it. Maybe she would just think he'd done... something. Boba was rarely embarrassed about his body, that came from a lifetime of casual nudity and being a slave, but that was a bit much. His _kad_ liked her. Boba just rolled back over and tried to keep his face from going red. Out of all the times for his body to decide he was safe...

"Also..." She gave him a wry look. Boba realized that she knew and he mumbled an apology. The princess just laughed, though, and handed him a mug of caff. That he took without question. Leia sat beside him an thumbed through her comm. She had a plate of those sticky thingies he loved, so Boba quickly reached over and grabbed one. They went _wonderful_ with caff. Leia gave him a bit of a smile as she ate and sipped. They ate in a companionable silence, Boba just enjoying watching the city come to life around them. He allowed himself to smile some. That smile increased a hundredfold when Leia started petting his hair. She pulled on it a little and he pressed in close. That just felt good. He didn't know why, but he liked it.

"What's the plan for the day?" Boba asked. He finished before she did and gathered the used plate and mugs.

"We have droids for that, you know," Leia reminded him. She got up with him and brushed a few of the crumbs off.

Boba grimaced. "Useless slaves are sold if they're lucky," he said after a minute. "If not, they wind up in a meat ship or a brothel." He repressed a shudder at both options. A meat ship was much preferable to a brothel, though. At least you died  within hours on the meat ship. The other took months, if not years. Besides, who would bother to save a slave from a brothel? He carried the used dishes to the sink and came back a few minutes later. "Besides, it doesn't kill me to help you." He sat back down beside her and looked at the comm. He was starting to relearn reading and could make out enough to understand that this was Senate business, not legal. Besides, he had a disc with his legal papers on the new collar he wore.

"You spoil me. I keep reminding myself that you're going to be gone one day," she finally said. Leia bit her lip some and kept reading. Boba huffed a sigh. At the rate his papers were going, he'd be an old man before that came through. But he didn't argue with her. He just started taking care of things around the small room. "You can go take care of your...problem." Leia made a little bit of a face before she laughed some. "Probably not funny to you, but it is to me."

"Thank you so much," Boba muttered. He did get up, though. After all, he did have a problem that needed to be fixed. Boba rubbed his face some. "You're a lot nicer than I thought you were."

"Thank you?"

Boba shrugged as he left. "By the way, why are we going to Naboo?"

"I thought it was time to introduce you to my parents." Leia shooed him away, though, and Boba took his leave. He would puzzle the rest of it out later. But for now, he just needed to get his morning bath in and deal with his...problem. Naboo, though... Boba had never been to Naboo before.


	25. Flying Air Solo

The problem with Han Solo was that he was a handsome rogue. And that Leia _liked_ handsome rogues. Boba was shy and unsure of himself, also he was her slave. She had given him her word that she wouldn't touch him like that and she meant it. The woman rubbed her face some as she considered her options. She already refused to drink alcohol (she said it was for "religious reasons") for fear of spilling Rebel secrets. Not only could she expose half a dozen undercover operatives, she could get Boba sold to a very bad place. For some reason, that was worse than exposing her fellow rebels. _Almost_. Leia had only known the man for about a month. There was no way that she could love him. Like him? Care about him? Enjoy his presence? Yes.

But love him? Love Boba Fett, the so called "deadliest man in the galaxy"? Leia didn't think that she could do that. He was a damaged former slave, after all. He had seen his father die in front of him and grown up in a Hutt palace. He was...damaged. And that was a mild term for it.

Boba looked down and swirled his martini glass. There was an odd look on his face, like he didn't quite like what he was drinking. There were times that she envied Boba for his ability to hold his alcohol. Then again, he had grown up on a planet where water was a precious commodity. There also had to be times when drinking alcohol was safer than using the local water supply. "I'm...not sure that I like this. I like I prefer the sweet. That's okay, right?"

"That's perfectly fine." Leia leafed through the holographic magazine and didn't pay him much mind. He'd already taken to sampling the space dock's food vendors. That meant that she had a half eaten box of black current chocolate gelato beside her, a thing of fruit soup, lamb kebabs, and something else that he'd eaten most of. She had discovered that he didn't like mayonnaise, either. That usually resulted in Boba not eating. As much as she wanted to ensure that he was healthy, she had to be glad that he was brave enough to turn down food. That meant he wasn't so nervous about having food and wasn't hoarding canned goods under his bed. Leia pretended like she didn't know where some of her staples had vanished too.

"Good." Boba paced a few more times, looking around, watching things like a gyrfalcon. Leia tried to ignore him, but his nervous energy was starting to get on her nerves. This man either needed to visit the gym more often or find his quiet place. "When is this guy coming again?"

"Fifteen hundred hours. You have ten more minutes." Leis prayed to the mother goddess that he wouldn't annoy the hell out of Solo. The last thing she needed to do was piss off another one of her rogues. And it wasn't like she could ask Dash Rendar for a ride. Not after the stunt he pulled on Kamino last week. While she admired stealing several dozen cryogenically frozen Alpha-ARCs, she did think that it would make the rest of their lives harder. Alphas were unstable and the Empire was looking for the _Outrider_. Again. "He'll be on time, Boba. This is a paying job and I trust him."

"Jabba did, too." Boba dropped himself beside her and grabbed a magazine. He glanced at the cover and dropped it back down with an eyeroll. Leia noted that it was a swimsuit edition. Was he embarrassed that he was a man and he had needs? "Then Solo showed up with an empty hold when he was supposed to have spice. He traded it for a few bars of gold. Jabba was _not_ happy."

Why was she not surprised?

After a few minutes of silence, the _Falcon_ 's familiar drone filled the small terminal. Boba finished stuffing his face with the last of the food and stood up quickly. Leia did notice that he had his blaster near where he could grab it. That made her worry a little. What was he expecting? Stormtroopers? She made her way to the small staircase and watched as the _Falcon_ 's loading ramp slowly extended. She winced some. That thing clearly needed work, but she wondered if Solo was going to fix it. It sounded like there was sand in the gears, maybe. She bit her bottom lip and watched the thing as it fully extended. Boba paced around her, throwing sharp eyes around.

The first one through was the Wookiee. He skidded to a hault and snarled something at Boba. It sounded like "you kriffing piece of _osik_!", but Leia wasn't sure.

Boba snarled right back. "The same to you!" He was getting all tensed up for a fight. Leia grabbed his arm and forced him to look in her eyes before he started an actual gun battle. Or he took on the Wookiee. Or he decided to slip into gladiator mode, which was not something she wanted to see.

"Thank you for chartering Air Solo for your services." Han Solo himself walked down the gangplank and eyed the Tamilian stand off right beside him. "Easy, Chewie. You know he's all bark and no bite. Let the little Mando think he can he can play with the big boys." He turned to Boba and gave him a shit eating grin. Boba's eyes narrowed. His muscles went tense under her arms and she feared he was dropping back into the stone faced man she hated. "As for you... stay out of my way."

"Kark you." Boba glared at him. And if looks could kill, Han Solo would have been a smoking pile of carbon.

"That's funny. I remember being on top." Solo breezed past the fuming Mandalorian and gave Leia a little bit of a bow. "So how'd you wind up with him? I can imagine half a dozen prettier slaves than that one. Unless you like tall, dark, and handsome. But hey, your thing's your thing. But seriously...why him? Because I know him pretty well and that _sleemo_ robbed me blind."

"What sort of man doesn't pay his whore? The one that likes to kark slaves?"

She was learning too much about this man and this needed to stop. "Han. Boba. You two can start fighting again when we hit hyperspace." She started marching up the loading ramp. Boba followed her quickly, almost walking on her heels. It seemed like he really did dislike Solo. Leia waited until they were heading to one of the guest rooms to corner Boba. "Why didn't you tell me?! I could have found another pilot!"

Boba shrugged as he put away a few of his shirts. "I'm not the one in charge here. Besides, your first choice pulled a stunt on Kamino and you don't think I can survive three days on the Cosmos Corral."

"Can you read my mind?" Leia gave him a very long look and hoped that he hadn't accidentally overheard all the guilty little fantasies she had of tracing his very defined body.

"No. I read your notes. You have horrible handwriting, by the way. I had to find a droid." Boba gave her a strained smile and flopped down on the bed. "The thing between me and Solo... he wasn't rough. It was once and I was in a pretty foul mood. He didn't hurt me, didn't mind me bleed, didn't even call me any names. I don't think he knew which one of us he was." Boba looked up some and shrugged. "Yeah. I stole his wallet and everything in it. Filled it with sand so he'd be in Mos Epsa before he figured it out. But he figured it out and he came right back to Jabba. I guess he was pretty mad about it. Jabba let him pick the punishment, so I was lashed twenty or so times and I shoveled out the bantha barns."

Leia stared at him. "Boba... I don't know what to say..."

"Don't. Like I said, he was halfway decent to me. Made sure I came and didn't mark me up." Boba shrugged some. "I've had worse."

"That's fifty shades of messed up and I have no idea how to cover that with you." Leia put her head in her hands. There was a sudden dip in the bed beside her and a strong, brown arm rested across her back.

"It's okay." Boba tipped her head back, strong hazel eyes staring into her own. "I didn't get hurt. He was actually one of the better ones." Boba sat back with her, staring at the wall. "I'm not angry about it, Princess. It's just a fact. Something that happened to me."

"So the therapy is helping..."

"A little." Boba grabbed for her blanket and pressed his body beside hers. "I'm not scared of you anymore and I think I'm learning how...how to be a person again."

"That's a good thing." Leia needed to deal with Solo, though, so she got up and left him. For a second, she allowed his hurt eyes to haunt her, but she shoved that away to deal with for another day. Right now, she needed to deal with a _sleemo_.


	26. A Confrontation

Of course the princess wouldn't want to hold him. After he'd just confessed to being a whore. It might not have been by choice, but he'd been a whore. He knew how to pleasure most species in the galaxy, male or female. Was Leia worried that he was going to steal from her? Boba smacked himself in the head and forced himself up. That had been such a bad idea. He hadn't needed to tell her and he could have pretended that they just knew each other from Tatooine. Now she thought Solo was as nasty as Rook Sil'va had been. Boba might not have liked Solo, but he wasn't a piece of human _etyc_. He was a decent guy. A rogue with a heart of gold, if you believed all of the poodoo the bards sang about. Boba didn't.

He walked around the small bunk room, eyeing what there was. Not much. Two small bunks, an attached refresher. Modern conveniences. A decent looking ship with a dashing pilot. Boba huffed some and looked around. This was the last thing that he needed to deal with. Han Solo probably still wanted his credits back. He didn't remember how much he'd stolen from the man, which made a problem. Boba rubbed his face some. He needed to come out and face the piper. It was the least he could do. If he was going to be flying to Naboo, he could at least try to stay out of Solo's hair. That said, he needed to get out of here and get the ground rules from Captain Solo. Boba was still a slave. Han Solo _wasn't_.

Boba collided with a heavy, walking carpet within five seconds. He yelped and narrowly dodged the paw aimed at his head. "Hey! Watch where you're going, buddy! I'm sure you with those fancy ears can hear far better than I can!" Wasn't that the truth? Boba had fought a Wookiee once and the fight nearly killed him. "I'm not looking to cause any trouble, okay? I'm just looking for my Mistress. I'm hungry and I want dinner." That was actually a lie, he'd stuffed himself in the space port. Old habits died hard deaths, though. He'd been starved far too many times.

Chewbacca growled and took a step forward. Boba took a step back, looking for the nearest escape pod. And then he told Boba just what he could do with himself for the wallet episode.

"It was just a wallet!" Boba snapped. "Quit being so anal retentive! I was _starving_ and he's an idiot, okay? I did what I had to do to survive. And then I got whipped for it. If there's anyone here who should have hard feelings about what happened, it's me. Not him. _Me_." The lash scars on his back stung and he forced himself to keep calm. He needed to get out of here before the Wookiee ate him.

Chewbacca didn't seem to like that very much and took a swing at him. Boba ducked, going for the knife he'd lifted off of some Senator. The weapon felt right in his hands and he swung it up in a perfect arc, just barely scratching the side of his arm. The Wookiee roared. Boba snarled right back. He swung at the other male, grunting when Chewbacca landed a solid blow on his side. Something cracked and pain flooded his side. Boba screamed. He dropped down, grabbing at his ribs. The Wookiee just kept on coming, though, and claws slashed at him. Boba rolled out of the way. He stabbed the alien in the hand and was rewarded with a bellow of pain. Chewbacca slapped him across the face, sending him reeling. Boba smashed into the wall. He punched at the Wookiee, only to have his hand grabbed and his body slung out of the way.

"That's _enough_." The cool voice was matched by the cool barrel of a blaster in his side. Boba froze. If he got shot there... it would be a gut shot. Sepsis. No medic in the galaxy could save him. "Chewie, if you break him, you're gonna owe the Senator quite a few credits."

The Wookiee snarled that Boba had started it.

"That's not true! That furry lump doesn't watch where he's going!" Boba was about to surge forward when a hand grabbed his hair.

Captain Solo yanked him back like he was a mangy cur. "You stabbed my buddy. And scratched him. The only reason why I'm not letting him get his revenge on your hide is that I don't wanna owe the princess _and_ Jabba." He dropped back some, running his hand through dirty blonde hair. "I don't even know why she keeps you. You aren't all that good in bed."

"I don't like men." Boba crossed his arms some. "Figured that out several years ago."

"Huh. Good for you." Solo gave him a dry look. "That still doesn't tell me why she's keeping you. From what I know, you're nothing but trouble. A thief, a liar, a murderer... They don't call you the Deadliest Man in the Galaxy for nothing, do they?" Solo circled him some and looked around at him. "You're easy on the eyes enough, I think. I've seen prettier. And you can fight. She keeps you as a body guard?"

"Mostly." Boba stepped back. He'd never liked being scoped out like a piece of meat. It was one of the few surefire ways to make him angry. "Just leave me alone, okay? I don't want to fight with you or steal your stuff. All I want to do is go to Naboo with Leia."

"Leia. Huh. How close are you two? She knows you use her first name?"

_Sith spit!_

"She told me too," Boba shrugged. "I guess that _Leia_ got tired of being called "mistress" all the time. Or princess. But I'm not gonna fight with her because I don't want to get my _shebs_ whipped. You? I don't care about." He really didn't, either. Solo could take a long walk off a short dock and he would just walk away. The last thing he needed to deal with was this man. He forced himself to walk away, ignoring the stinging pain in his ribs. He needed to take a nap or something. Or, better yet, take a nap in Leia's arms. He found her on one of the couches, playing chess against the droids. Boba dropped himself beside the princess and pressed close. This time, she threaded one hand through his hair and let him press close.

Boba allowed himself a small smile. _That_ was much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1). Etyc: Literally, "dirty filth". Used here as "trash"


	27. Friends Are But a Word

Leia enjoyed playing holo-chess. She rather enjoyed it more when she didn't have Boba on her lap, but she wasn't going to fault him for it. He had been hurt most of his life. If he took great joy in snuggling with her, he could do that. Leia just dropped her hand in his hair as she played and thought of Naboo. It had been too long since she had gone home. She might have been Senator (really something just to keep the lesser royals out of the way), but she had grown distant to her people. It wasn't a good thing. Naboo was a beautiful world with a rich culture and a unique spirit. It wasn't technically part of the Rebellion, though it did supply a few Rebel bases with food. All under the guise of IronFist, of course.

Lux Bonteri was one of the smartest men Leia knew.

As if sensing her thoughts, Boba butted her head some with his hand. "Move your fathier knight to E7. Then jump the two on bassa hounds and move your rook." He hummed some as she did that. The man looked at it again, his dark eyes keen. "What? I used to play this all the time with my _buir_ and Unn. We found a half-way usable board on one of those old, wrecked ships out in the Dune Sea. Unn grabbed something called a laptop and he rewired it so we could play. I got pretty good." He gave her a bit of a goofy smile. "It also came with some game called Grand Theft Starship."

"Don't try that in real life!" Han yelled. He walked into the common area and gave Boba a long look. Boba just shrugged and curled up some. Leia didn't understand what was going on, but the testosterone was starting to stink worse than a dragon feed pit at high noon. "I just got the engines balanced and the hyperdrive flushed on this baby. You just can't get good mechanics anymore."

"It would take a miracle worker to revive this hunk of junk." Boba sat up and gave Han another look. Then he gave Han a languid smile. "Then again, I have come to the conclusion that most pirates have ships that look like animal poodoo. Gives you that much of an edge, doesn't it? No one expects the rat shit ship to go from zero to lightspeed in two point three seconds. That is what this bird can do, right? Or do I have the _Falcon_ and the _Outrider_ mixed up?" He looked genuinely confused and scratched his head. "Nah, you don't have two Nautolans with you. Then it's the _Outrider_ than can go zero to lightspeed in two point three. I don't know about this ship. Don't see her all that much anymore. Your wife ever show back up?"

There was a vein pulsing in Han's temple. "Sana and I have been divorced for years, Fett. You should know this!" He threw up his hands and started pacing the cabin area. "For starters, it was _fake_! Like one of your stupid fights! The entire karking plan was to have a big, huge ceremony on Mindor cause I was a prince and she was a princess. Then Lando screwed up and we all wound up in jail for six months. I think it was docking without actually paying the fee, now that I think about it. But we got some good brandy out of it, at least."

"Those fights weren't fake." Boba's voice dropped and he crossed his arms. The man looked up at Han before slowly drawing a knife Leia didn't know he had. Then he very slowly pulled off his shirt, revealing a chest and back covered with scars. The slave glared up at Han. "Each one of these, I could have died. Half the ones on my back came from _you_!" He turned around some and the raised flesh made Leia shudder. She jerked back some, not sure of what to say. The scars covered his entire back and some dipped below his belt. He looked up at Han, his gaze strong and proud. "I couldn't fight for two weeks, Han. You should know that useless slaves are killed if they're lucky. How else did you get Chewbacca?"

"Stupid Imperials."

"Mine was a Jedi Knight who hated my father." Boba pulled his clothing back on and looked down. "He said Jango killed three Jedi Knights with his bare hands. That my dad deserved to die and all of us, the clones, with him." He sighed a little bit. Leia grabbed his hand. He squeezed so hard that it almost hurt. "He could have taken me to one of the children's homes, but he left me to die. I got as far as the space port before Jabba's men grabbed me."

"I never knew my dad." Han flopped down beside Leia and offered her something from the cooler. She didn't take it. "Then again, there were about fifteen contenders for that position and I hated each one more than the last. Joined the Empire when I was sixteen, wound up saving Wookiees when I was twenty, won the _Falcon_ later that year, and got on with Jabba a month after that. First time I saw you, you were gutting some Zabrak bruiser. You kill him?"

"Yeah." Boba sat down, also beside Leia, and took the offered beer. He cracked it open. "What is this, Derrier?!"

"Yeah. It comes from some cold geyser on Hoth." Han took a long slug of this and shrugged. "Is this poisoned?"

"Not unless you eat vole curry," Boba muttered. He tossed his in a trash droid. "Do you have anything else? Because I'm not drinking Derrier. If you knew how they put the bubbles in that shit..."

"It's naturally carbonated. Says so on the can!"

Boba doubled over and started laughing. "You're an idiot. Naturally carbonated my ass! They get the bubbles from space port exhaust! And they don't have cold geysers on Hoth, genius. It's too cold. It's so cold on Hoth that I hear the devil wears a wampa-fur coat."

Han looked down at the cans. "I like ships, but not that much." He hastily shoved the entire cooler back to where it had came from. "And where did you hear that? You're from Tatooine! A desert!"

"It's called the Travel Channel," Boba replied. "That's all I could find before I figured out Leia's remote."

Leia gave him a long look and moved out of the way. The budding bromance needed time to take root and the last thing she wanted to do was get in the middle of it. "So that explains why I started getting those advertisements in my holomail." She sighed some and gave both of them a wry look. "Boba? You see anywhere you want to go?"

"Anywhere where there isn't sand. I hate sand. I have seen enough sand to last a lifetime. It's dirty, it's crunchy, it gets down your armor, your pants, and your socks. It also sticks to you when you get sweaty." Boba shrugged some and sat back. "Do you have something other than Derrier? I wouldn't mind a beer or something like that."

"Uhh..." Han looked a little bit embarrassed. "Nope. And that stash is going out the airlock as soon as I can get rid of it."

Leia left. She really needed to go before she ruined the moment for both of them. Maybe Boba was getting better. She at least hoped so, but something inside her was having a bad feeling about this.


	28. Healers

"Did I make you angry?" Boba was a little drunk when he staggered back into the bunkroom with Leia. He really needed to stop drinking. But after a few hours of talking and drinking with Han, he was feeling relaxed. So he flopped down beside Leia and placed his head beside her. He really just wanted his head rubbed. The slave liked being touched. Especially if the touch was kind and didn't hurt him. He had been tortured before and he still bore the scars. Each one of his scars had been from some sort fight or from torture. When he was young, he'd been hard to deal with. The overseers had often seen fit to string him up, gag him, and try to break his spirit. He'd been fifteen when he lost his cherry and fourteen when he was first with a woman.

Boba had been fighting since he was ten. There wasn't much he could do but accept what had happened to him.

"No..." Leia looked up some and rubbed her head. She glanced back down at him. Boba hummed his pleasure and kissed her hand. Leia jerked back some. Boba smiled a little more. He picked himself up some and gently pressed his lips against her. Leia yelped. She pushed him back some. "Boba! You're drunk! I like you, but not that much!" She sounded frustrated and Boba drew back. He acted a little like a kicked puppy, drawing back some. Was she going to hit him? He felt rather liked her, but he didn't think she liked him back. "Look, you're drunk and you're still my slave. If I touched you, that would be wrong. I can't do that. I can't do that and still...and still treat you like you need to be."

"But what if I want it?" Boba reached up and touched her face some. "I think that you're the first person I've ever wanted. Well, other than my _buir_. But's he's my _bui_ r and you're...you're not my _buir_. You're the most beautiful woman that I've ever seen..." He traced a hand through her hair, marveling at how soft and silky that it was. Leia sighed some. She let him touch her, though, and didn't slap his hand out of the way. Was she okay with being touched by a dirty slave? When she knew that he had been touched by many, many other people? When he'd had Rook in his ass and how much he had bled? He was nothing but another dirty slave that was worthless. And she... Well, Leia was a princess. He was just a slave.

"It still wouldn't be right." Leia brushed a kiss over his head and let him curl up. And, most embarrassingly, he was hard. Very hard. His body wanted her and Boba was drunk enough that his mind wanted her, too. His right hand just wouldn't cut it right now. He wanted Leia and his fantasies just wouldn't do. "I'm glad to know that you like me, but you're a slave. I told you that I wouldn't touch you sexually as long as you were still a slave."

"But I want you!" Boba protested. He offered her another sloppy kiss, but this time, she pushed him off. He sighed some and looked down. Leia was right. Why would a princess want to frip a dirty slave like him? "Is it because you think I can't get a hard on?"

"Boba. I know how you act. I've seen the way you act, the way you're almost ashamed to say that you're a man." Leia moved him so he was resting his head in her lap. He sighed a little bit and looked away. "Did they...do something to you? Surgically? With chemicals?"

"I'm not a eunuch, if you're asking," Boba muttered. "You need the testosterone so you can fight. Snipping me would have ruined me and, thankfully, I'm worth too much for that." He rested his head against her, closing his eyes some. "I can still get it up for you, if that's what you want." He huffed a little bit. "And no, Jabba doesn't like dealing with them. You have to feed them a lot of hormones or even medications if you want to reverse it." Boba had dealt with some of those poor bastards. Eunuchs were falling out of favor, mostly because they were so hard to care for.

"But why are you so ashamed?" Leia asked.

"Sex hurts." There. It was out. Boba raised his head up some and accepted the gentle hands in his hair. "Every time, it hurts. I get scratched up, I get bit, I bleed, or I don't want it. Or maybe I'm even so drugged up that I can't see straight. So why should I want something that hurts me so much?"

"Oh, Boba..." Leia trailed off some and gave him a sudden hug. "Boba. It's not supposed to hurt you. It's supposed to feel...well, I don't know how to describe it. But it's not supposed to hurt."

"Then you need to tell Tatooine," Boba muttered. He didn't look at her for a few minutes. The man didn't know what he was supposed to say. Was Leia going to get rid of him? He was averse to the things that Leia might want from him. He didn't want anything that might hurt him, but a hand on his dick would really feel good. He didn't even need her unless she wanted to do that for him. "I just... I want you. I'm not gonna say anything when I'm not drunk. But I like you and I think you're one of the kindest people I've ever known."

"But that doesn't mean that we should sleep together." Leia sighed a little bit and looked at his...problem. "I would tell you to go to the refresher, but I think you're a little drunk."

"It's more than a little," he helpfully replied. "Han and I drank an entire case. Not that poodoo from Derrier, but something good. I have no idea what it was and I was too drunk to read Aubresh." Aubresh and alcohol didn't mix all that well. Then again, Boba wasn't all that good with reading as it was. That was just another reason why she wouldn't want him. He could hardly read and he was a pit fighter. No one would want him. He was just another slave and he would die a slave. That was just the way things were.

Leia sighed some and let him curl up beside her. "Why don't you just sleep it off and we'll talk about this in the morning?"

"Okay." With that, Boba pressed beside her and closed his eyes.


	29. The Morning After

Leia woke up to a little bit of turbulence. That was nothing unusual, as space wasn't the total vacuum everyone thought it was. There were such things as particle storms, gas clouds, space debris, and things of that nature. So nothing that would truly damage a ship with shields, but enough that you would get a little bit of a bumpy ride. Leia checked her in flight tracker. They were six hours away from Naboo and home. That was very good. She yawned some and looked over. Boba lay curled into her side, his face peaceful for once. He needed his sleep. The last thing she wanted to do was wake him up. Especially since it looked like he was having a good dream for once.

So did he really like her or was he just saying that because he was drunk? Boba seemed like a guy who could hold his drink. Just how much did he have to drink to get smashed? Leia had no idea what he was thinking when he started drinking last night. The guy needed help. He really and truly needed some help, but what was she supposed to do? He wasn't ready for a sexual relationship. It wasn't just that he was a slave, it was the fact that he'd been abused for most of his life. She didn't want to add to that, too. Leia rubbed her face some and got up. Boba mumbled a little bit. He did move over, though, and yawn. She shook her head some and smiled. Boba was sweet. She liked being around him. When he wasn't drunk, he was a great conversationalist. Leia shook her head some. She needed her morning shower.

The young woman came back to finding a sleepy looking Boba staring at the bed morosely. He shook his head some, dark hair flopping in his eyes. Leia cracked a small smile. Boba looked adorable when his hair was all fluffed up.

"Your hair is fluffy." Leia sat beside him and he leaned his head into her shoulder. "And... I like you, too. Boba, you're pretty sweet and you're a decent guy. I like talking to you. I guess it's easier because you're not some of the creeps that I have to deal with at work."

"I could always get rid of them for you," Boba mumbled. "Jabba made me do that, too. I can kill them and make it look like an accident."

"Let's not." Leia rubbed his hair some and just watched as he curled up. He enjoyed being with her. That was good at least. She just hoped that she wasn't putting to much hope in the drunken words from last night. "The last thing I want is for you to get arrested, okay? You're a really good guy, but I don't want you to get hurt." She sighed a little bit and then gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "There. I owed you one."

"Thanks." Boba smiled languidly and looked up some. "Why's your hair wet?"

"I took a shower." Leia watched as the light bulb clicked in his head and he started laughing. Leia laughed with him and lightly poked his side. He flashed a rare grin at her, mischief in his dark eyes. His hands darted out and he poked her in the stomach. Leia doubled over and started laughing. She poked him in the arm. He poked her back, grinning like a loon. She moved to poke him again and he caught her hands quickly. The man grinned some, his dark eyes shining. Then he leaned down and kissed her, gently and deliberately.

"And now, we are even," Boba murmured. He nuzzled her hair some and hummed. "And I might be a little drunk, because that was some really good beer and I have no idea how much I drank last night. Can you be drunk and hungover at the same time?"

Leia shook her head some and drew back. "Let's just concentrate on getting you ready for my parents."

"You know, I never thought I would get to do that." Boba swung his legs out of the bed and grabbed for his clothing. He was decent enough to carry his stuff to their refresher. "And to a princess, no less! You know, I think most parents would be terrified that the big, bad gladiator would be despoiling their daughter or some bantha poodoo like that." He must have rolled his eyes. "Then again, I never thought I would be anywhere other than Tatooine."

"Get a shower and meet me in the galley," Leia called back. "I know you like conserving water, but you need a bath. Every morning."

"Yes, mother," he teased. Boba poked his head out of the refresher and she was pretty sure that he was shirtless. "And tell that scruffy nerf herder I said hello. Though calling him a nerf herder might be an insult to actual nerf herders. He looked more like a lowlife degenerate to me."

This time, Leia rolled her eyes as she walked back into the galley. She decided not to mention what Boba said as she got ready for their own breakfast. Han was probably still smashed in his cabin. Leia laughed a little bit. Next time, they would fly commercial. Leia rather enjoyed being with Boba, though, and there was that. He was a really decent person once you got to know him. She sighed a little bit and hoped that was what her mother would think, too. After all, Boba was the Mandalorian who, for all intents and purposes, was living with their daughter.


	30. Missed Connections

Boba still marveled at indoor, heated plumbing. He looked up at the shower head some, trying to figure out of it was going to start spraying ice cold water on him and he was going to wake up back on Tatooine. Boba thought that he would walk into the Sarlacc Pit under his own power if this was all a dream. But how sick would he have to be to dream up all of this? Dreaming up Princess Leia, dreaming up Han and Chewbacca... no, he didn't think he could do that. He sighed a little bit and started getting himself ready for the morning. He still didn't like caff, it just tasted too bitter, but he liked a good mug of tea. Preferably hot tea, but still tea. Boba allowed himself a wry shake of the head.

Three months ago, he would have been worried about his water not being full of roundworms. Not if he liked caff better than tea or beer better than wine. Most wines were a little on the sweet side and Boba didn't quite like the sweet. He could take a good beer, just not the poodoo from Derrier. Though Boba had drank that when the water was actually brackish or contaminated with large, dead animals. Eopies took a long time to rot and the native cuttlefish weren't all that fond of eopie meat. Neither was Boba, so he understood them on that. He took a long, drawn out sigh as he got himself clean. The hot water felt like heaven on his muscles. Boba wondered what he would have done to get something like this on Tatooine.

He might have even gone to Rook willingly.

Boba quickly shook his head. Where had _that_ thought came from?! Rook Sil'va was a thing of the past. He might have been a piece of space scum, but he knew enough to not mess with his employer's things. Boba shuddered some as he got his clothing gathered together. Dealing with Solo was bad enough. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with Rook Sil'va, too. The dark haired man wandered down to the galley, mostly following his nose. By rights, he should have been cooking for her and serving her on the bended knee. But Leia treated him as her equal. It was a very strange thing, but he figured that he could live with it. Boba took a little bit of a deep breath. He could do this. He could deal with her parents and not get killed or tossed into some dungeon.

The man caught a look of himself in a reflective surface. He looked...better. His face was more filled out, his eyes weren't dead, and his skin... if it was even possible, Boba just looked like a healthy person. He allowed himself a small smile. He touched his reflection some, almost marveling at how different he looked. His hair had gotten thick and glossy, almost like the princess'. There was even a little bit of a curl to it. Boba reared his head back some. What had he looked like, coming off of Tatooine? A living dead man? One of those zombie things that was all the rage now with animated HoloNet shows? Boba didn't know that. All he just knew was that he looked better. He looked like a _man_ , not a dead on the inside slave.

"Enjoying the view?" Solo came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder. Boba tensed some. He almost expected a blow, or a hand to grasp his _shebs_ , but nothing like that happened. It galled Boba to realize that Solo had a little bit of a height advantage to him. "You know, if you were into that sort of thing, I would tap that."

His face burned some. "Thank you? I guess?"

Han shrugged a little bit. "Look, I'm sorry. I got really pissed off and I was hung over. I didn't even know you were a slave." The man shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down. "Chewie used to be a slave and I know a few others like that. A few Zabraks, a Twi'lek, and Omwati. The usual breeds. So...I'm sorry. Though I know that sorry doesn't cut it..."

"Thank you." Boba touched his hands. "And I'll think about it." He took a deep breath and released it through his nose. He looked up at the slightly taller man and wondered what he was supposed to say. "You didn't hurt me. I wasn't bruised up too badly and I didn't bleed. I've had worse."

"You have no idea how kriffed up that is." Han pinched his nose some. "Just go on and get your breakfast. I'll handle getting us down to Naboo and you and your princess can get more acquainted." He gave Boba a little bit of a grin and Boba wondered just what he had said to the other man. Things said while drunk were non-binding. Boba nodded some, not sure of what he was supposed to do. Even now, he tended to avoid confrontation if at all possible. Old habits died hard deaths.

Boba nodded some and slipped off to the galley. He took the food with a demure nod and sat down to eat. He loved eating. He loved having enough food that he could eat what he wanted and not have to worry about starving to death. He allowed himself to wolf down the food, leaving enough for his Mistress if she wanted some, too. Boba shook his head some. Leia wasn't his Mistress. Sure, she might own him, but she was more a friend than anything else. He sighed softly and started getting things ready and cleaned up. He was a little uneasy about Solo. What did the man want? There was nothing there, nothing but a man who regretted what he had done.

He swallowed some, trying to shake off the bad feeling he was getting. But that was the thing about bad feelings: they just didn't go away so easily.


	31. Naboo

Leia was giddy as they started touching down. She was finally going home! She could talk to Breha again or pester her father about how long it took him to fix up that old speeder bike of his. She could play in the gardens with Siju or ride the gualamas or guarlaras with her. It had been so long since she had been home. The zoo on Coruscant might have had the exotic creatures from the swamps, but it didn't have the more common creatures that she was familiar with. Not even a tusk cat. Yes, the tusk cats were very large, but they were also very gentle and easy to train. Leia hummed some as she got ready. She didn't wear her heavy, ceremonial robes with the coiled headdresses and the yards of brocades, but she did wear a simple tunic and did her hair up in the twin buns she was so famous for.

Han seemed ready to get rid of her, but she paid the man well and took her leave. They needed to get home anyways. Leia entered Theed city through one of the canals and actually took a water taxi. Boba didn't look all that enthused by this mode of transportation, but he wasn't going nuts over it. That was good. He trusted her that much. Leia sat back in the taxi and looked out over all of the hanging gardens. Naboo was famous for this and intense wells of green spilled from floating pots with strands  dipping into the water below them. The flowers were all the colors of the rainbow and Boba picked a bright red one. He gave her a shy smile and gently tucked it into her hair.

"If I didn't know better, I would think that you liked me," Leia teased.

Boba shrugged some, still in awe of the surroundings. His jaw dropped as they passed under an archway made of ferns and vines and passed through a cool grotto. Silver-vines, the vines that fed on moonlight and water, shrank back from the heat of the bodies. Boba looked down and trailed his hand in the water. A few of the vibrant fish came up to the surface. None of them were big enough to hurt and the canals were too big for opee sea killers or sando aqua monsters to get through. Not that they didn't try, that was. But there was an ionic barrier below the city that prevented large beasts from swimming up and killing people. It was similar to the technology that allowed you to have an open hanger in space, but still have living pilots.

"If I was born here, I would never leave." Boba shook his head some and leaned back. The sunlight played over his dark skin and Leia could see that the clothing she had picked out for him really did work. The dark blue shirt and the half-cloak. The darker brown pants and his boots. None of them were embroidered and it really was quite comfortable. The Nabu preferred loose clothing. There was no way in hell that Leia would ever be seen wearing some of the clothing she saw on Coruscant. She much preferred her long, white dress when it came to dealing with reporters. "It's just... it's so _green_ , Leia. There's so much life, so much water. It's like... It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"Wait until you see the palace." Leia pointed up ahead and she could see the green domes rising high above the water. In her heart, she was already home. She was already talking to her father about the future of the Rebellion and she was already learning things from her mother about being a queen. Leia shivered some. She could see what looked to be stormtrooper outposts here. Were they keeping troopers on Naboo? Most of the Nabu were a very "go along to get along" people. They weren't as passive as the Omwati were, but they still didn't want to fight. When the Empire had disbanded the star fighter wing, they had literally only been disbanding a formality. The only time the Royal Star Fighter Wing came out was when they were having the gualama races.

Gualamas weren't fathiers. They had to have much more care and be allowed to run free. They couldn't be shut up or they would waste away and die. The gualamas were much like the Nabu in that manner.

Boba shook his head some and said nothing when he looked at the massive structure ahead of them. Leia pitied him in that moment. Boba Fett came from _nothing_. He had been a pit fighter on Tatooine, destined to die a horrible death. He had been abused, been tortured. And then she had came along and changed his life. But how would he cope with this new life? Boba was still stunned by running water. How would he take to life in a palace? Leia watched him as he exited the water taxi. The dock had been made from fine marble and edged with native metals. Native plasma lights were strung across it so that the docks would be visible in the dark. Leia paid the Gungan and watched as he went away.

All of Theed City was clean. They ran the entire city off of plasma deposits deep in the core, but there was no need to be wasteful. Like nuclear fuel, plasma could be reused an almost infinite amount of times before it went bad. And even then, they pumped it back into the core where it would be renewed within five years. Truly, the living Force was with this planet.

"You live here?" Boba pointed at the great structure, stunned by how tall it was. His jaw dropped and he spun around slowly, taking it all in. "What...what do you need me for?! You could...you could have the best in the galaxy and you...you chose me instead?"

Leia nodded. "You needed help. So I helped you."

"I owe you my life," Boba whispered. He trailed after her, oddly silent. Leia hoped he was okay. But she quickly looked up ahead and she saw a stately woman, followed by her father. Leia picked up the pace until she was running and grabbed her mother in a hug. Queen Breha hugged her back, tracing her daughter's face with her free hand and whispering sweet words in Nabu. For a few seconds, Leia forgot Boba and she just lost herself in her mother's embrace.

Leia pulled back, trying to keep from crying. "I missed you, mama."

"I missed you, too." Breha turned around, though, and cast a sharp eye over Boba. Boba almost shrunk in on himself. "So this is the man you bought from Tatooine. Why did you wait this long to introduce us?"

"Because." Leia gave her mother a quick grin and pulled Boba close. He seemed very nervous and looked at the ground. Bail cleared his throat. Boba cringed a little bit, but he kept himself strong. "I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be too stunned or freak out too much."

Bail nodded. "I think I can understand that, but come on. We have a lot to discuss and I'll need to talk to your friend here."

"Boba." Boba lifted his head and stared her father right in the eye. "My name is Boba Fett."


	32. Bail

Bail was a dark eyed man, with dark hair and tawny skin. He would have looked Yavinese, if not for the fact that he was taller than they were and his hips were narrower. Boba had fought a Yavinese man before. They might have been small and more horny sluts than Twi'leks were, but they were fighters. They were strong, too. The one that Boba had killed took wounds that would have felled a lesser man. And yet... Boba felt no sadness for his death. He had done what he could do, mourned the senseless loss of another life, but he'd moved on. There was nothing he could do about it and beating himself up about it would only make the problem worse. So he looked Bail Organa in the eye and noted that he looked...different, he supposed. Calm, cunning, someone who knew what he was doing.

"I see." Bail took his arm and started leading Boba down another path. The Mandalorian followed him, but not to close. He eyed the man's steel blue suit some, trying to gauge where weapons might be hidden. He could see that the man had a small hold out blaster in his boot, but it wouldn't do much against all the layers of clothing the Nabu wore. It wasn't that he was sweating under all of these layers of clothing (Naboo seemed to be pretty cool and temperate), it was that he didn't quite like being covered up in layers of garberwool, silks, and Force knew what else. Boba allowed Bail to lead him through a copse of fern like trees and past a weather beaten Daoist statue that actually looked real. "So. Boba Fett. Anything I should know about you?"

_Why is this as awkward as hell?_

"My name is Boba Fett, my father was killed by a Jedi, and I know how to kill people and blow things up." Actually, he was much better at the killing people than he was at the blowing things up, but it never hurt to pad your resume. Bail sat down on a patch of grass and motioned for Boba to join him. After a minute, he did. He trailed one bare hand into the soft green, enjoying how cool it was against his palm. He...liked this. "This is a very beautiful planet." He'd realized that he'd spoken out of turn and winced. Bail motioned for him to go on. "It's...so cool. And green. I was born on a world made of water and storms and I spent most of my life on a dustball." He sighed some and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I've never seen so much green in my entire life."

"And how did you meet Leia?" Bail leaned forward some and touched Boba's hand. Boba froze some. He wasn't sure what this man wanted from him. In the past, touches like this lead to sex. However, this was Leia's father. He was married. He had a happy family. He didn't look like he would be one to enjoy the company of slaves.

"I was a pit fighter on Tatooine." Boba busied himself tearing up the grass. It smelled like mint, so he stuck a piece in his mouth. It tasted like mint, too. He loved mint and he closed his eyes, savoring some of the taste. He opened them up quickly enough and realized that Bail really did want an answer. "She saw me fighting and I guess that she liked what she saw, so I was ordered to her room." Bail gave him an alarmed look and Boba quickly raised his hands. "It's not like we fripped or anything! We just talked and I feel asleep because I was tired and hurt, that's all. And then the next day she bought me and I've spent the remainder of the time as her companion-slash-bodyguard." He winced some, hoping this would go over much more smoothly. And that grass... he liked it.

"Boba. You don't know what animals have stepped there." Bail reached over to stay his hand.

Boba shrugged some. "I've had worms before. Tequila, hot sauce, and Florrum chilies clear that right up." Bail gave him _another_ alarmed look. "What? It works and you only have the lava _shebs_ for two days max. With actual medication, that takes like a week. And if I'm sick for a week, I could die. So I would rather be very sick for two days as opposed be a little sick for a week."

"I think that you need a serious medical evaluation." Bail got up quickly and helped Boba up. He thanked the man with a nod of his head and followed him. They walked down another small path and Boba looked over to see a serious vine maze a long look. That might be fun. He wondered what was at the middle of it, but he saw that the other man was ahead of him, so he ran to keep up. He wasn't winded, but he also wasn't as fast as he had been a few months before. Boba kicked himself some. He had to stay sharp. If he was weak, if he lapsed, he would die. It was as simple as that. That was law on Tatooine and he figured that it was still law here. He would have to be more careful.

"I'm fine, really." Boba followed the man over a stone bridge and stopped over a reflecting pool full of koi and other fish. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to see in there, but he watched it some. It was oddly peaceful. "I like Leia, I like her a lot. She's very kind, but she's not the sappy sort of kind that falls over. She's... she's very strong."

"I really like Leia, too." Bail looked over the pond and sighed some. "She's my daughter, Boba."

"My _buir_ died when I was nine," Boba murmured. He looked up, face calm. But his dark eyes, wounded and vulnerable, told the real story. "He died to protect me. I was being attacked and... well, he ticked off the wrong Jedi. I held his body and I watched him die." Boba closed his eyes some, trying to shove the images out of his head. "I'm not gonna let her die, Bail. I've seen too many people die. I'm tired of death. I want to _live_." He looked down some. "I wonder what it would have been like if Jango didn't die. I think I would have been seen as Mandalorian. Now I'm just a slave. _Dar'Mando'a_. My own people sell enough of themselves into slavery that I'm just another face in the crowd. I wonder what it would be like if he'd never died." He wouldn't be standing there today, that was for certain. He would be...elsewhere. On Mandalore. Married to a Mandalorian woman with a family.

Not a slave. Not stranded on a world so different from his own and in a culture that was nothing like his own. Boba didn't understand what it was like to be homesick for a place you had never even been too.

"I'm sorry." Bail touched him on the back this time. "I've seen a lot of death, too. This is the Emperor's homeworld, so we're spared the worst of it, but there have been crackdowns. Too much death and dying."

Boba nodded, his face grim. "I know you're with the Rebellion, though I don't know what the Death Star project is. Leia doesn't tell me anything."

"She wants to keep you safe," Bail reminded him. He looked around some. "The less you know... the less the Imperials want to torture you. On that cherry thought, it's time to get back to the others. Breha will have my head if we keep them waiting."

Boba nodded some as he followed. He just wanted for this all to be over with.


	33. Mama, I'm Home

Leia was so glad to be home. She was happy to be where he was wanted. Where she belonged. Where she didn't have to watch her step as much. The Nabu security force her father employed was one of the best in the galaxy. As much as she liked and respected their Gungan friends, there was a group of them out there that did want to kill off all humans. She had ran into more than a few of them in her time and had a scar on her shoulder from them. They swept the palace every week for bugs, but organic and composite. So far, they had found genetically modified dragonflies (killed with a big zapper), listening devices and cameras, and a strange breed for bird that was actually a droid. They had been able to keep the Empire mostly out of the palace, thanks to that team.

No one could fault a playful Narglatch cub for eating a droid. After all, they were just big cats and they loved to play with things that moved. If that droid looked like a bird and flew as slowly as a weighted scow? Maybe, it just wanted to be eaten after all. Never mind that the Narglatch cub was specially trained as a hunting cat.

Her mother seemed glad to have her home, but there was worry on her face. Breha had aged well over the years, but the sharp eyes that had kept Naboo neutral during the Clone Wars were lined now. Her glossy, dark brown hair was tinged with grey and she was no longer as sharp as she once was. Nor was she as swift with a bo-staff. Leia wondered if her mother practiced that much anymore. Leia hadn't had the time, but she would have loved to teach Boba. Maybe they had even taught Boba the ancient art of _tersaa ka_ , the art of the wooden staff. He was a very good melee fighter, but he was even better when it came to ranged weapons. There was just so much that she didn't know about him. Leia did know, though, that Boba loved mint. His favorite color was green. The way his slow, shy smile could light up an entire room. The honesty in his hot, dark eyes.

"Where did you get him?" Breha cut to the point, as always. "Mothma told me about your trip to Tatooine, just that you failed to secure us an alliance and you bought a slave." The older woman rubbed her head some. Her Twi'lek, Masi, wasn't with her and Leia wondered where the other woman had gone. "I can't blame you, Leia. I would have done the same thing you did. But you have to be careful, love. One wrong move...and the Empire might not care about the papers you drew up."

"He knows nothing," Leia assured her. As much as it hurt to lie to her friend, she had too for his safety. Leia rubbed her face some and gazed out over a small pool. Native Naboo water skippers darted over the tops of the water and bounced across the lily pads before they went back under the crystalline water. Leia swallowed past the lump in her throat. She had missed home. The twirrels singing in the trees. The humming birds. Her tusk-cat friends. All of it. "I think he's figured out that I'm a Rebel, but it means nothing to him. He can hardly read." Lies. Boba was learning how to read and getting better every day. There was so very little that his sharp eyes missed. She would  be a fool if she thought he hadn't read some of her things. "I think any Inquisitor worth their salt can tell that he knows nothing."

"He's a very handsome man." Breha gave her daughter a half smile. She held out her finger and thrilled some. After a minute, a black and gold bird flittered from the trees and landed on her hand. The bird wasn't that big, maybe the size of Leia's palm, but there was a scar on the side of it's neck. "This little bird was owned by an exotic animal dealer. Locked in a dirty cage all the time, mistreated, didn't know who to trust. Sound familiar?"

Leia nodded some. She touched the spotted jay and the little bird puffed it's chest. "Like Boba was. Except that Boba was forced to fight for his life. I...found his records. His first fight was when he was fourteen. He killed two jackals. It...wasn't pretty. I don't know why he didn't just give up."

"Some people are fighters." Breha turned her gaze back to the bird and stroked it's head some. "You know, I got this little bird healthy. Fed it, watered it, tended to it's wounds...and then I let it go. And now it comes back to me of it's own free choice." Breha paused some, looking out over the pond with her daughter. "Leia... I know that it takes much longer for a human being to recover than it does a bird. But there comes a time when you're going to going to have to let Boba go. I don't think that any Mandalorian does well when they're forced to live in a cage, no matter how luxurious it might be."

"I know," Leia murmured. She looked down some, wondering if she could do that. She draped her arms over the weathered wood, trying to take everything in. "What are we going to do about the Death Star? Captain Dameron needs fighters, but Kateel can't have them shipped. Not until she gets the Imps out of KDY, that is." She sighed some and rubbed her head. Why did she think this was such a good idea? How could one person hope to change the world? The Empire was a massive machine and it scraped along like a fambaa with a full meal in it's belly.

Breha shook her head some. "We'll find a way, Leia. We always do." The older woman turned away and started walking back to the palace. "We need to find your father and Boba. I hope that they're getting along okay."

"I think we need to worry about my father..." Leia softly said. After all, Boba was a pit fighter. He wouldn't be afraid of a conversation or two. Right? "Boba's pretty tough. I don't think there's much Dad could do that would upset him."

"Be that as it may, I'm still worried about them." Breha picked up the pace and Leia wondered why she was getting a bad feeling about leaving Boba and her father alone for so long.


	34. Consequences

So Bail wasn't all that bad. It wasn't like he was going to eat Boba for talking out of turn (the Gamorreans Jabba employed had a taste for Twi'lek and human flesh, if you got the drift). It wasn't like he was going to get smacked. Or even get a dirty look. Maybe the guy was decent. This was Leia's father, after all. He had taught his daughter many things and some of those things allowed him some modicum of comfort. A full belly was one of them. A warm place to sleep was another. He wasn't whored out, nor was he fighting for his life every night. He might have been getting a little bit soft, but he wasn't in danger of actually _dying_. He could get out of here, if he had too. But did he want too? Did he want to leave his new life behind? Or did he want to stay with Leia and live the life of Riley?  


Boba sat down on the grass again, glancing over at the razorback cats that strolled around the place. They were tame enough, but three deep scars on Boba's chest told the story of what happened when you had to fight them. It just...hurt. Badly. You were slashed up and you lost things. He brushed over his chest some, frowning as he thought. It had been a long time since he'd fought the cats, so why was he thinking about them now? Bail wasn't going to sic them on him. They were just ambling around, taking treats from the others. Boba still watched them. He didn't quite like the cats, but he wasn't going to cause a fuss. He was a man. Not a small child. He was a _man_. He could handle the cats.  


"Are you okay?" Bail glanced over some. He'd been looking at something. Boba could see the very real concern in his eyes. He forced himself to nod. He didn't like the cats, but a slave couldn't ask a man to move his pets. "I'm being serious, Boba. Is everything alright?"  


"The cats." Boba looked down in shame and squeezed his hand so hard his nails cut into his palm. He was panting a little bit. Really, Boba was fine. He was just fine. It's take him a minute to get over it, that was all. He didn't realize that he was talking like that, or that Bail had wrapped an arm around his body. Boba stiffened some. Hugs really weren't his thing, but he'd take it. "I...I fought them once. I was sixteen. I almost died. Every time I see the cats... I'm back in the fight, I think. I can smell the blood, taste it, hear the crowds roaring..." He shuddered, trying to stay strong.  


"Give me five minutes." Bail got up. He calmly walked over to the beasts and started walking them away. The cats seemed a little bit confused by all of this, but the big predators calmly ambled away. It looked like Bail just locked them up in another, this one walled, garden. Bail sat back down and Boba nodded his thanks.  


"You know, it's okay to tell me if something upsets you," Bail softly said. The older man rubbed his head some, looking out across the garden. He was very tall, almost a head taller than Boba. But a life of hard knocks and malnutrition had taken height from him. Even Jax had been a few inches taller than he was. Bail sat beside Boba some and just looked out across the garden. "I think you're alright, Boba. Not who I would chose to be with my daughter, but you do well enough. To be honest, I've never met a Mandalorian outside of the prison system. So please forgive any biases. I'm trying to work on such things, but it's hard."  


"My world is _dying_." Boba looked Bail in the eyes. "I've never been to Mandalore, but even I know it's a third world hellhole. It went from being a shining jewel of this galaxy to being a mudball after the Empire took over. Native Mandalorians are selling each other into slavery while the Empire gets fat. Mandalorian _ad'ikas_ are slaves or starve while the Imperial brats walk past them and kick dust on their bodies. My people have nowhere to go, your Majesty. We can't pay the taxes. The Empire took the best farmland. They're blowing up the shrines and temples to get at gold and oil deposits. They nuked an entire _continent_ over mineral rights. I think I can understand why Death Watch and the gangs look pretty appealing right now. At least in prison, they feed you."  


The older man nodded some and rubbed his face. "I know, Boba. I know. Trust me. The Empire's been forcing Naboo to do things we don't like, too. The entire slave deal and bartering with the Zyggerian slave companies."  


"I wasn't Zyggerian." Boba shrugged some. "Thank Coyote for small favors. The mark on my shoulder is Genosian." He pulled up the shirt sleeve as best he could and allowed Bail to read the letting and numbers quite literally burned into his skin. As far as Boba understood it, it just meant that he was a slave and he'd come from the Genosian slave company Tiberius. Boba gave Bail a grim look. "Your Rebellion needs to win. While I understand that the Republic wasn't all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorn farts, it was a damn sight better than this. Can I nominate you as Emperor?" He thought for a second. "And slaves can't vote. But Breha or Leia could nominate you in my stead."  


Bail made a laugh that he turned into a cough. "Try telling Leia or my wife what to do. I can tell you that they'll ignore it or go the opposite."  


Boba cracked a little bit at that. "I have noticed that. And I do like Leia, Your Maj-"  


"Please. Call me Bail." The older man cut him off with a wave of the hand. Boba looked down at his boots some. For a few seconds, he really just contemplated throwing all the excess layers off and going for a dip in one of the ponds. He was tired of waiting and he was starting to get a little bit hot. Bail gave him a little bit of a smirk. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  


"That these clothes are really a bit too much and I could do with three layers less? Then yes, yes you are." Boba gave Bail a bit of a dry look. He really didn't like the clothes, okay? They were a little bit too much and he just wanted them _off_. But he was putting up with it for Leia's sake.  


"That, and I'm going to find the women." Bail got up and started walking. Boba followed him quickly. The first thing he was going to do was get these clothes off and he was going to take a cold shower. He really did need one. These clothes were too damn hot and too damn heavy. But he did put up with it. For now. They found Leia and Breha on one of the paths. Apparently, they had come looking for _them_ and had taken a wrong turn. Boba smiled some when he saw Leia and reached out to touch her hand. She didn't slap him away. Instead, she took his hand and together, they walked into the palace. Just like that. And for the first time... Boba thought that he might be happy.  


That was, until he saw the Imperial delegation on the front steps.  



	35. A Delegation

A delegation of Imperials waiting for them on the front steps probably wasn't a good sign. Boba looked over them with calm eyes, trying to note what was going on with them. He didn't think that he liked it very much, but he was going to play the good slave here. He was just going to put up and shut up. Keep his mouth shut until he could figure out what to do. He settled back on his heels some and looked around. He didn't know who they were. Two were pale skinned. One was as dark as the void and with a height that spoke of Korun heritage. Boba eyed the first two. One was female and she was packing a blaster. The other was male with red hair and he had a poison dagger. The Korun carried nothing.

_Interesting. I wonder what he can do._

"Is there a reason for this?" Bail took the center stage and smoothly pulled the ginger male towards him. The man could have been carved from ice, that was how pale he was and just the general feel Boba was getting from him. He didn't rear his head back. Just stayed beside Leia and wished that he could have a _beskade_. Or a blaster. But he'd never been trained to use a blaster beyond what his father had taught him to do. Boba stayed back a little bit. He needed to figure out what was going on before he jumped the gun. Bail gave the ginger his media smile. "We weren't due to have Imperial emissaries over. So I do hope that you'll excuse the mess. People do live here, you know."

"That won't be a problem." The man looked Bail over, probably noting the grass stains on him. "We just came here for one person. The Emperor himself has heard that you know of one Obi-Wan Kenobi. Where is he?"

"I don't know who you're talking about," Bail replied. Boba thought that it was a lie, but he wasn't sure. He gritted his teeth some, looking around. The woman looked like she wanted to start blasting things. Boba had a feeling that she was probably going to start blasting if they didn't give her what she wanted. He moved closer to Leia and took her hand. He needed a blaster. Or several. He gritted his teeth a little bit and wished that the sun would get out of his eyes. The Korun moved towards Bail. Bail took a step back, eyeing the man with some distaste. Korun were not like the Stewjoni or the Yavinese. They were...different. Like predators. Bail cleared his throat some and tried to look regal. "I assure you that Naboo's House Organa does not associate with known criminals, if this Kenobi fellow is a criminal."

"Don't lie to me." The ginger moved close and Boba saw the knife. He reacted quickly. Darted forwards, grabbed it, twisted it so that the blade was pointing at the man's belly instead of Bail's. Bail took a step back. Boba didn't blame him. The last thing that needed to happen was a fight. The ginger glared at Boba, his eyes like chips of blue eyes. He turned back to Bail. "Either you call your rabid cur off or I'll have to put him down _myself_." Boba backed down willingly. He didn't want to get killed, not yet. Not after he was finding that he had a person to live for now. The ginger man sheathed his blade and sneered as he looked across the grounds. "Bail Organa, we have found several messages coming from you to a man known as Alpha. We have reason to believe that Alpha--"

"Alpha is a man I served with during the Clone Wars," Bail smoothly cut in. He glanced around and shrugged some. "Do come inside. It's a little hot out here and the last thing I want to do is cause you to get uncomfortable." He started walking through the columns and into a long marble hallway. Boba felt much better after that and shed the cloak. He ignored Leia's glare. Breha looked prim and proper. Like she had been expecting this or something. "He was a part of my guard detail and we became friends. I do keep in regular contact with him. Old soldiers such as himself need a helping hand now and again."

"Alpha is married to Obi-Wan Kenobi," the ginger retorted. He sat down on a brocaded chair and grabbed for a crystal tumbler. Bail poured him a sweet smelling wine. He offered it to the other two, but they declined. Boba really wanted a blaster. He could take care of this problem before it spread. The man sipped the wine. He smiled some, nodding. "This is Nabu, am I correct? Not any of that Gungan trash? Why you didn't eradicate them is beyond me."

"The Gungan people were here first," Breha replied. She sat down beside the man and motioned for the other two to do so as well. The woman sat quickly. The Korun took his time, but he sat across from Boba. Boba was getting a strange feeling of power from this man and he didn't like it. Breha took a sip of wine for herself and shrugged some. "I do like keeping my allies close to me, after all. It was a Gungan force that helped repel our Neomidian invaders. I'm not one to kill those who might help my cause. More wine, Commandant?"

"If Alpha is married that means I don't have to comm him every week." Bail looked a little bit tired. Like he was an old man instead of a young one. Boba wanted to help him out. What was going on with him here? "It's good that he's married. Maybe he can pull your Obi-Wan Kenobi into the straight and narrow. Stranger things have happened, you know."

The Commandant was not convinced. "I think you should start telling me the truth, you know. Thes, why don't you use your space magic on him? It might do some good rather than just scaring the cadets silly."

Thes smiled like a shark. Bail leaned back some, but the Korun froze him with a flick of his hand. "Gladly, sir. I always love being the one who gets to put down the rebel scum." He concentrated for a few minutes and then he looked over at the Commandant. Boba noticed that Leia looked like she was really concentrating on something. He wasn't sure if he liked it or not, but he did know that something was up. Was Leia doing something? And how? She didn't have the Force...did she? But after a few minutes Thes drew back and shrugged. "I'm getting nothing from him. I think it was a waste of time, Commandant. We might not even have the right Alpha, since you know how those clone troopers recycled names."

The Commandant nodded and stood up. "I'll show myself the door." His hard blue eyes latched on to Bail's dark ones. "And just remember, Organa, the Empire is always watching." With that, he turned and left.

Bail waited until he was gone. "Leia, I think you need to go for a little bit. There's a safehouse near Mon Calamari. If you hurry, you can be there before the Empire comes back."

Leia nodded. She stood up and hugged her father again. Boba's heart ached. He wished he could have done that before his father was killed. "I'll do that. Be safe, dad. Don't let the Empire get you down."

He just smiled at her, the wisdom only gathered by age in his eyes. "Don't worry about me," Bail replied. "Just let me worry about you."


	36. The Safe House

Leia stripped her own clothes off and grabbed for her simple traveling robes. As far as her co-workers in the Senate knew, she was on vacation. Mon Calamari might not be the _ideal_ vacation destination, but it did have decent UV filtered skies and purple sand beaches. So, not the most conventional spot to go on vacation, but you could do so much worse. They were even offering guided tours to _Mustafar and Koribaan_ , for the Force's sake! She dressed herself quickly and gathered a few things. She would have clothes at the safe house that fit her. It would be Boba who would have the most issues. The town did know her family and could be trusted to lie if there was a pinch. But Boba? Boba was very new. He wasn't the same color as her, either, which would make matters fun.

She had her own bags packed and was waiting to go. This time, they would be taking their own ship. Nothing like the _Falcon_ , even though she was a good ship. Just... her Captain left a lot to be desired and Leia wanted to be left in peace. If being left with Boba Fett counted as being left in peace, that was. Boba slipped out of his own barely used room and gave the bed a mournful look as he left. She tried to ignore the fact that he could, would, and often did jump on the beds a little to test them. The softer the better, she figured. Leia wondered if it came from a lifetime of sleeping on rock floors. There might have been a little bit of a reason as to why Boba tended to sleep in her bed rather than his own. Her bed was far softer than the guest bed.

Not that it was the guest bed anymore. It belonged to Boba. Assuming they ever got back to Coruscant, that was.

Bail owned a small fleet of ships and only a few of them were registered. He had been very active in the Clone Wars during his youth and sometimes needed to do things below the official radar. Hence the fleet of ships where only a few of them were registered with the local government. Most of them, even the ratty caravel type freighter Bail had picked up on a whim, had powerful cloaking devices. Leia, though, wasn't in the mood for a clunky old freighter. She needed something _fast_. Something that would get them from Point A to Point B in record time. And that was why she was going for the old Firespray her father had picked up from Mace Windu for a song. Where and how the old Jedi got the ship, Leia would never know. She was almost too afraid to ask.

Something sparked in Boba's dark eyes as he looked up at the old thing. It was almost like recognition, but Leia waved it off. They needed to get out of here. Her father had had fun overhauling the interior of the thing, even though her outsides were largely untouched. The Firespray had been named something horrible like _Slave I_ or something like that. In typical Nabu fashion, the ship had been renamed the _Silver Falcon_. Leia dropped her spare changes of clothes in the single bedroom and checked the supplies. Everything would be good for another year or so. She nodded to herself and went to pull up the gangplank and make a full system's check. According to the computer, everything was in tiptop shape. Leia allowed herself a low smile. It was time to see just how fast this ship could really go.

Boba walked around in a daze and almost bumped into her. "I... I know this ship, I think. It's like... It's like my father... I can feel him here?" The man looked a little bit confused and Leia ignored him. She loved Boba, but this wasn't the time for rambling. The man looked a little bit frustrated as he turned around in the ship. "I know this ship, Leia. I... I know it. When it used to be called _Slave I_. This was my father's ship..."

"We bought it from Mace Windu." Leia kissed him on the cheek quickly and got permission for take off. Wildcatting was only reserved for when you had no other choice. Leia wouldn't wildcat a liftoff unless she absolutely had too. But here? Here she could take off with permission and get this bird in the sky. She patted the dashboard of the old ship fondly. It might not have been a six hundred year old caravel, but it wasn't a brand new ship. It was fast, though. So fast. Leia knew from her father that this ship could outrun just about anything. If Boba's father had owned this ship, he must have loved it and treated it right. She focused on getting the ship into the air, though, and smiled when they had a smooth take off.

Leia had been in ships that rattled and shook with every breath you too. The _Silver Falcon_ wasn't that type of ship. She was all smooth, clean power. There were no extra frills here (beyond a truly extravagant water recycling system, but Bail didn't like bathing with grey water). This was a ship made for speed and power. She punched through reality into hyperspace cleanly within minutes of liftoff and Leia allowed herself to relax into the seat cushions. She selected the safe house coordinates from a list of preprogrammed options and stroked the soft, buttery leather. Leia liked this ship. She was so smooth and clean. So powerful. Understated, too. You would never know how fast this ship was just by looking at it.

A rough hand touched the side of her face. Boba was looking at her with his sharp, dark eyes and she gave him a smile. He smiled back at her before pulling her into one of the most seating kisses she had ever had in her lifetime. Leia had been with other men and even a few women before, but no one quite came close to the sheer, smoldering intensity that Boba Fett had. The man gave her a wicked smile when they were finished, his dark eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

"I," he softly said, "have been wanting to do that for at least three months now." He pulled her close, nuzzling at the crook of her neck. "I chose this, Leia. I chose _you_. Out of anything I could have had in the galaxy, I chose you." Boba gave her one of his slow, sweet smiles and her heart almost melted. He was letting himself be so vulnerable here. So different from the cool man he usually was. She could see something else in his eyes now. Something that she wanted. Leia moved to straddle his lap and placed her hands on his shoulders. The man watched her with his hawk sharp eyes.

"I want you to tell me if anything gets too much." Maybe it was the adrenaline from dealing with the Imperials. Maybe it was her own pent up frustration about not touching the man in front of her right now. Maybe it was her selfish side wanting pleasure instead of dealing with the Imperials. Or, maybe, Boba just wanted to feel good and she was someone safe. Leia understood. She kissed the junction between his neck and shoulder gently.

"Yes, ma'am." Boba threaded his hands through her braid as she nipped and sucked a few bruises across his exposed skin. If Boba minded, he said nothing. The idea here was to take it slowly so he wouldn't he upset over it. "Feels good. Feels real good."

"I know." This time, Leia was the one to kiss him and she tried to banish all of her worries from her mind.


	37. My Father's Ship

Boba rolled over and got a mouthful of brown hair. At first, he was a little bit annoyed. After all, he didn't like getting hair in his mouth. That had been one of the worst things about servicing some of Jabba's guests. Getting hair in his mouth. Boba just did not like it, along with the way that he didn't like several things. Then again, a slave didn't get the choice of what he liked or didn't like. If he was lucky, it was chosen for him. If not, he was just expected to work and deal with it.Boba had been expected to work and deal with it. That had lead to more than a few trips to the medical bay, too. The rough stuff was not to his liking. Boba also thought that he might like to be in control more. It was a strange thing.

He traced the lines of her face some as she slept, trying to understand the way her mind worked. One did not become the deadliest man in the galaxy by being kind. Boba had so much blood on his hands that, sometimes, he feared that it might never come off. What good was he if he was a shivering slave? He wouldn't be able to guard Leia. He wouldn't be able to protect her from the Empire. He knew enough to where he could be dragged in and tortured if she was to be captured. As much as Boba didn't want to think about it, that was the cold, hard truth. He knew enough about IronFist and the Rebellion that he was on the torture list. The tawny skinned man groaned aloud at that. What had his life come too?

This was his father's ship. _Slave 1_. Named so that Jango would never forget the life he had lived as a slave. Boba slipped out of bed and grabbed a pair of loose sleeping pants. He left the shirt off as he padded through the ship. It just looked... _different_. The rubber floor matting was gone, replaced by hardwoods. The walls had been repainted. It looked like the seats had been replaced. He traced his hands over the controls and turned his head some, not wanting to look. They hadn't ripped out the dash and he had found the place where his father had carved his name into the metal. And, a little below it, was Boba's name. Boba closed his eyes some as he fingered the carvings. That was all he had left of his father. Just a few scratches in the metal under a dash.

_It's not fair. If anything, **Tyranus** should have been the one dead. Not my father!_

Boba climbed down the ladder and into the storage areas. The cages for holding bounties were gone. No surprise there. But then, his eyes alighted on something in the corner. It looked like a storage locker. Boba went over there and blew the dust off of it. Jango had had at least three of these. He kept everything from his journals to spare armor in there. The man's dark eyes narrowed as he looked at the lock. Boba powered it on after a few seconds hesitation. The light flickered after a few minutes and digital _Mando'a_ numbers appeared on the cracked screen. It looked like the locker had been undisturbed. Boba furrowed his brow for a moment, trying to think of his father's favorite password.

Jango had been just as human as anyone else. He used the same three or four passwords, just like everyone else did. He also had a PIN number, which Boba couldn't remember for the life of him. He pondered the question for a few minutes before he slowly punched numbers into the keypad. At first, the lock did nothing. Boba cursed softly. Well, that was a failed effort. But then the lock turned green and it hissed open. Boba opened up the locker and pulled out the first thing he could find. MRE rations that had expired a decade ago. Well then. That was going in the trash. He pulled out the next item and whistled some. His father's woven _beskar_ jumpsuit. Or, well, one of them. Boba hoped that he could borrow it.

He pulled out the next item and almost cried out. One of his father's data-tablets. It could hold anything from information on bounties to another selection of journals. Or it could even be his, when he was a young child. He managed to find the power outlet and was pleased to find that a standard charger would work with the thin, ancient device. After that, he left the data-tablet to charge as he went through all of the other things. A few old blasters. More MREs (why did his father like MREs when you could cook?). Some more woven _beskar_. An ancient book on fly fishing. What looked like dried jogans. A very old, leather bound book that Boba thought was called the _Book of Sith_ , but he wasn't sure. He also found a pair of earbuds and his father's spar breastplate.

All in all, it looked like a decent haul. Boba glanced over at the charging data-tablet. It had enough juice now so it would power on. He navigated through the old touchscreen, looking for whatever it was his father had left him. It looked like he'd borrowed this thing at some point and taken plenty of pictures of his father. Boba tried to force himself not to cry, but tears still trickled down his face. And then he found the voice recording. It was just a recording griping about Jabba and Tyranus, but to Boba, it was solid gold. He had gone for so long only hearing his father's voice in dreams. Only seeing his father's face being cut down by Mace Windu. And now... and now he got to look at himself and Jango, smiling. Laughing. Talking.

It was proof that Jango really did exist. His father had been alive once. He had changed the galaxy and been killed for it. Boba looped the recording three times before he looked for another one. There were a few showing birthday parties, or Boba playing with Cad Bane's hat. He wondered if the old Duros had looked for him. And once, there was a five second clip of him stealing Hondo Okhana's blaster. Boba pressed the tablet to his chest. This thing was worth more than his life now. It had all of the memories of his father on it. Something that Boba would never be able to replace. He shut the device down and looked up at the ladder. He needed to get a shower before Leia figured out that he had been crying.

He was a Mandalorian. Mandalorians didn't cry. They made others cry. But when Boba lifted his father's personal good luck charm out of the dust, he almost forgot that. He slipped the old fossil over his neck and smiled some as it rested over his heart. A piece of Jango was always with him now. His father's charm. Maybe it was stupid, but he had missed the old thing. His earliest memory was grabbing it as it sparkled in the light. He rubbed the smooth, old stone to his face before climbing again. Maybe he would tell Leia the story of this ship. How it was stolen from MandalMotors after they refused to pay his father. Or show her the place where Jango had carved his name on the ship.

Or, maybe, he wouldn't. For once, Boba had a choice and he liked having choices.

He also liked Leia and he was hoping to get a repeat of last night. It was best not to tell her about the lockers until later. Or, maybe, after he had had a few kisses. Boba decided that he liked kisses if he got to chose how he had them and how many he had. Except for the Empire thing, it actually did seem like his life was looking up for once. Boba hoped that it stayed that way.


	38. An Imperial Delegation

Leia was just about to drop them in hyperspace when an alarm icon flashed across her dash. She frowned at it some before selecting it. They needed to just get out of here and into friendly space, but that didn't look like it was going to be an option once the Empire caught up with her. Leia wanted to warn Boba, but the Imperial slicers took the craft over and seamlessly started dragging it over to the yawning mouth that was the hanger of a Star Destroyer. Nothing like using one of those to give your enemies the fear of the Force. Leia gritted her teeth some. She'd carried nothing that she couldn't delete with a single touch of a button. The most important documents were hidden on an ancient flash drive and placed under the dash.

It was highly likely that the Imperials wouldn't have the ports needed to read such a device. And even then, this was a very old ship and the documents were encoded in a code specific to Nabu royalty. It would be nearly impossible for them to break, but she figured that they would try if they could. Even the best code could crumble if there was a good enough code breaker. Leia had seen that happen with the Imperial codes more than once. They spent all that money on developing them and a few clone troopers with barely a fifth grade education started breaking them. Then again, clones were smart. Clones were raised to find patterns and exploit them. She tried to take a steadying breath and prepare herself for what was about to happen. They could do this. She hoped.

As far as the Imperials knew, this was a private craft that was heading to a popular tourist trap. A woman and her slave. Things happened. Maybe they were "lost" and they had hit territory that they weren't supposed to hit. Anything could happen in this galaxy of theirs.

A female voice crackled over the loudspeaker. "Occupants of this craft, please prepare for boarding and Imperial inspection. Any resistance can and will be met with lethal force. I repeat, occupants of this craft, please prepare for boarding. Any resistance can and will be met with lethal force." Leia looked around some and let them toe her ship into the hanger. She glanced around at the ion curtains some and wondered how they got them to let ships go through, but keep the air in. She'd never know how it work. "Occupants of this craft, please stand by. Imperial troopers will be waiting to escort you to your intended destination. I repeat, occupants of this craft, please stand by. Imperial troopers will be waiting to escort you to your intended destination."

Boba popped his head into the bridge and looked alarmed. "Leia?! What's going on?"

"Someone told." She scrambled over to him and kissed his forehead. The gesture that was starting to soothe him failed now. The man swallowed some. He gripped his ladder rung and looked around some. Leia had a bad feeling about who it was. They should have never trusted this man, but good men were hard to find and he knew a lot of them. As far as she knew, the man who told was Rook Sil'va. She didn't know why. Maybe he was captured and tortured. Maybe he got drunk and simply blabbed it all to the wrong person. Or, maybe, he'd been a mole from the start and was really good at hiding his tracks. "It's gonna be okay, Boba. There's nothing they can get us on. We're not even in the wrong sector of space.

"Princess," he softly said, "It's the Empire. They can do whatever the hell they want. Especially if you look like me." He gestured to the Mandalorian traits he had. The features, the way his eyes seemed to reflect the light, and the way he moved. Like a cat. Boba slipped up into the bridge and gave her a gentle hug. "It's been good knowing you. You...were the best owner I ever had."

"Don't talk like that!" Leia wished she could just set him free now. He wore no collar. He wasn't microchipped. "You can say you're free! I don't care. If it gets you out of  here, I want you to do it, okay?" She traced his cheek, not wanting to think that this might be the last time she ever saw him again. Leia knew she would treasure his kind, slow smiles if it was. He had the kind of smiles that could light up a room if he really wanted too. "As your Mistress, I'm giving you the order to act like you're a free man and to _get out of here_."

"I wish it worked that way." He squeezed her hand as the landing plank was lowered and troopers came into the bridge. Boba gave her one last kiss on the cheek before they were taken out. He didn't even look at her, but her heart broke when they scanned the tattoo on his arm. The bar code. She hadn't even _thought_ of that. He started walking with them before suddenly turning back. Hot, dark eyes stared into hers as Boba stood against the men trying to drag him away. "I love you."

"I know," she whispered back. Leia tried to act strong in front of them, tried to control the tears threatening to streak down her face, but it was futile. She knew she looked weak as she watched him go and if he heard what she said, he didn't act like it.

_I love you, too._

"C'mon, you," one of the troopers said. He kicked Boba as they walked. Leia submitted to the cuffs as well. Boba's dark eyes seemed to follow hers as she was taken away. There was nothing she could do about it, though. They were being taken away by the Empire. This could be the last time they ever saw each other. It was the last time that Nightswan ever got to see his family. It was the last time Lux had ever seen his Steela, right before she was killed trying to save him. So many people had been ripped apart by the Empire and she feared that she would be one of them. Leis wished she had her father's rose gold astromech or her own R2-D2. But she didn't. All she had was her own wits and the knowledge that she had lead an innocent man to his doom.

The man sent to interrogate her wasn't Korunni. She could thank Saint Murphy for small favors there. He looked at her with bored blue eyes as he tapped on a data-pad. They waited for a few minutes before he started speaking. "Well then. I thought we'd never find the mysterious Angel."

"Boba is innocent," Leia replied. "And I have no idea who this "Angel" is."

He smiled. It was a nasty smile, the kind that witches had before they bred the Nightbrothers. "On the contrary," the man replied. "I think you do. And you're going to tell me _everything_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, who do you guys think told the Empire about "Angel" and that she was Leia? I want to know who you guys think it was!


	39. Detention Center

Boba grimaced when they kicked him again and when one of them tried to kick him. He was used to this. This had happened to him before, when he'd been a slave for Jabba. He felt himself slipping back into the old patterns he used to have and settled his face back into one of stone. When they tripped him and he fell, unable to catch himself because of his bound hands, he just grunted and gritted his teeth. He tried to ignore all the looks he was getting and the way they almost seemed to leer at him. They knew what they could do to him. He was a _slave_ , just a slave here. He wasn't valued by these men. And special papers or no, if they wanted too, they could sell him. It was called civil asset forfeiture. And as the Imperials saw it, Boba Fett was an asset to be seized.

They dragged him into an interrogation room and stripped his shirt off. He grimaced when he was shackled flat to the inverted table and shivered when he touched the cold metal. The droid that had been brought in, Boba thought it was an ITO-unit, jabbed a needle in the side of his neck. He hissed some, feeling the cold burn of the medication spread through his system. There were others in the room with him, you had to have someone call off the droid in case it killed someone, but he could hardly see them through his hazy vision. Boba felt like hurling his lunch. He did and he watched dully as the vomit spattered his bare torso and his pants. Whatever drugs they gave him left him unable to actually care. The smell wasn't all that good, though.

Reheated food always tasted better going down than it did going back up. Boba really wasn't all that sure why and he figured that some things were just better left unasked. Especially when a severe looking woman stepped in front of him. He didn't quite see her clearly, but he saw the scars branding her face and the cold look in her one good eye. The other one was clearly cybernetic. It showed that with the red dot where the pupil should have been and the cold steel that surrounded the rest of it. Boba struggled some to look up at her, but the effort was too much and he dropped down. He honestly felt drunk and his stomach rolled like he'd just spent the day on Jabba's sun barge and he was being expected to think clearly.

"Is he under?" The woman's voice was harsh and grating and Boba honestly wished that she would just shut up. His head was starting to pound something awful, like he just been drinking _prejaa_ all day instead of sipping water like a normal person. Force, but his mouth was dry. What he wouldn't give for a drink right about now. The woman stepped under him and looked him up and down. "So. Your name is Boba Fett?"

"Yep." Boba slurred his words a little, but he felt so drunk that he just did not care. He shook his head some and tried to force his eyes open. "Hey... what did you guys put in that drink? Whatever it was, that shit's not cool! I don't like being drunk!"

The woman cleared her throat. "My name is Admiral Khione. It's my job to ask you the questions and your job to answer them, do you understand? Now either we'll do this like human beings or we'll do this like you're a Mandalorian savage we picked up rather than sent to the salt mines of Ravor-III. I want to know what your connection to Angel is."

"Who?" Boba blinked some and struggled against the shackles. "Can hardly read Standard. Not like my Mistress is gonna tell me anything. Says I'm just a slave and the less I know, the safer I'll be." His head lolled back some and he wondered where Leia was. Even though it felt like he was swimming through a sea of syrup,he still felt that these weren't people he needed to talk too. He understood this feeling a little more when the woman nodded and the black droid moved forward. The man arched his back and screamed as several volts of electricity flowed through his body. He sagged back after a few minutes, panting heavily. "What was that for?! I don't know anything!"

"Who is your Mistress?"

"That's easy," he managed to get out. Boba kept one bleary eye on the droid and struggled in the cuffs. No one moved to help him. "She's Princess Leia Organa of House Naberrie. Princess of Naboo. She's in the Senate, some make work job for rich kids. She bought me cause she liked the way I looked." He glanced down at the round scar on his collar bone and groaned some. Damn. He hoped that wouldn't scar. "She does some work with some company known as IronFist. They do ore deals, I think? I dunno, I never asked. And she has dealings with some grain dealer. I dunno who."

"IronFist. Write that down," Khione instructed. She looked over at him again and traced his bicep. Boba gave her a weak glower, not really wanting to be touched. "Tell me, slave, what are your duties?"

"Page boy," he managed to get out. Boba tried to quell the rising bile in his throat when she kept on touching him, dropping her hands lower and lower to cup him through the loose pants Leia had given him. He didn't like this. Tried to ignore it, but her skillful hands kept manipulating him and to his shame, he felt his body's reaction. And he couldn't stop talking, either. Whatever they had given him was strong shit. "I clean her apartment. Get food for her. Get coffee. Bodyguard. Sometimes we frip, but that's pretty rare." He grimaced some and wished he could kick her away. "The only person I want touching me there is my Mistress, so do you mind?"

That earned him a slap across the face and a shock from the droid, combined with a dose of something that made him scream in agony for a solid five minutes before it went down. And, once again, cold eyes looked up at his and she offered him a half smile.

"I have found that, with men, offering a mixture of pleasure and pain gets the desired results," Khione replied. Her hand reached up to touch her coppery red hair and Boba found himself wishing for his mistress. "I will give you pleasure if you obey and pain if you do not. So. What else do you know about your Mistress' dealings? Does she have any unusual friends or does she keep odd hours?"

Boba shrugged some. "She hates Orn Free Taa?" That was all that he could think of that was odd and he slumped down some, breathing heavily.

The woman grimaced. "Have him hosed off and brought to my quarters. I have a better idea about getting information out of this one."

The man rested his head back and breathed through his nose before silently asking Leia to forgive him.


	40. An Unwilling Betrayal

Leia didn't want to betray him. Boba had grown very close to her in the several months she had known him. He was...kind. He might have hidden it very well, but he was a kind man and he never went out of his way to kill. Even when he was fighting, he'd gone out of his way to kill cleanly. He didn't torture like some of the others did. The man had tried his best, only to be tortured by a cruel galaxy. They hadn't cared. Leia knew that the Imperials wouldn't care. She had seen holos of Boba from before, how he'd been done up. The kohl under his eyes. The long emerald green loin clothe that he'd worn. The golden collar and the little golden chains that went down and attached to the nipple rings. He'd looked miserable, though. His dark eyes were beyond dead. They were... hollow. Like he was hollow.

She sighed and settled down on the hard bunk. Leia wasn't Angel, that was someone else, but she was neck deep in the Rebellion. What would they do to Boba once they figured that out? He was powerless here. Boba could do no more than a captured mouse could fight a Loth-cat. Leia kicked herself some. Why hadn't she forced his manumission papers through? She had the credits to get him freed, but she hadn't forced the courts hands. Now Boba was going to pay the price for her bad choices. Khione was known for hurting male prisoners. Leia didn't think that she could live with herself if Boba was hurt under her watch. Would they know that he'd known nothing? That she had kept him in the dark just to protect him?

The doors hissed open and Leia glanced up. Stormtroopers marched in. She was grabbed up, her hands forced behind her back and cuffed, and marched out of her cell. Then she saw Boba. He slumped over, his eyes glazed over. There was dried blood on the edges of his nose. Both of his eyes were black and a livid bruise covered his face. Leia wished that she could hold him. Tired dark eyes met hers. Boba dipped his head some. When he opened his mouth to speak, she saw blood all over his teeth and noticed that he was missing one. There was nothing she could do. He gasped for breath and went down to his knees. The cold eyed man behind him kneed him. Boba struggled to get to his feet, but he was clearly too injured to really get up.

"I'm sorry." Boba hung his head some. He spat out a mouthful of blood. "I... I tried. I really tried." He lifted his head up a little more, gasping for breath. Leia wondered if they had broken his ribs. She wondered what sort of bruises were under his uniform. They had stuffed him into a bright yellow detention center uniform and shaved off his curly hair. Leia's heart broke to see what looked like a shock collar on his throat. "Please... please don't kill me... I did all I could..."

"He told us _everything_." Khione stepped in front of Boba and kicked him. Boba grunted. He didn't struggle, didn't fight her, just stayed there. "It took quite a bit to get it out of him. I couldn't get it out of him. My droids couldn't get it out of him. It took some of our finest torturers to get it out of him. And it took us quite a bit of time, too. He's strong, just like all Mandalorians are." Khione smirked some. "Almost too strong. We had to resuscitate him more than once."

Boba hung his head, breathing heavily. Blood dripped out of his mouth. He panted heavily and looked up again. Leia almost couldn't believe it. He looked like he'd been through hell and back. More bruises were blossoming over his face. He hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry," Boba whispered. "I couldn't. I tried. Mistress..."

"What do you want?" Leia asked. She wanted to protect him, wanted to hold him close to her. Khione nodded and the cuffs were dropped off. She moved close to him. Boba almost melted into her hands and let out a tired whimper. Leia tried touching his hair, which he loved, but her hand came back covered in blood. Boba made a tired sound as he pressed close. The man was in agony. He let out tired gasps of pain when she touched his ribs. "I just got his ribs mended a month ago! How many times did you hit him?!"

"As many times as it would _take_ ," the man snarled. He glanced behind him and smiled some. There was something that chilled Leia to the bone. She cursed a little bit and tried to draw him into her arms even more. The man offered a little half smile. "And would you know that it didn't work? It took us threatening to give you to the stormtroopers to make him break. We could have tortured him to death three more times and he wouldn't have broken." There was someone walking up behind him, but he was in the way. Boba hissed a curse under his breath. He tried to draw close to her, but the pain in his body was keeping him from doing that. Leia helped him move. It was then she noticed the burns all over his body.

"What happened to you?" she whispered.

"Sith lightning." Boba grunted in pain and tried to pull himself up on her shoulder. Leia helped him. He rested his head on her shoulder. She could see his body shaking from the strain of it all. "Never felt it before and never wanted to. Did you know that it can be used to bring the dead back to life?" He started coughing harder. He spat blood on the metal before giving her a miserable look. "You can leave me behind, you know. When they come and get you."

"I'm not leaving you," Leia growled. She glanced up at the others and noticed a tall looking Mirialan male. His golden eyes glittered coldly. Boba tensed up when he saw the man, trying to move away. She didn't blame him. He was in pain and he needed help. But what could she do? She was just one person, one barely trained Jedi, against the entire Empire and a Sith. Leia cursed herself for not paying much more attention to Ferus Olin when he tried to train her. The Jedi Knight had finally given up and gone back to being with his husband and taking care of the palace with her parents. The Sith nudged Boba with his boot and offered a smirk. Leia took a dislike to the man, even though she knew what had likely had been done to him.

She had talked to a red Zabrak when she was a child and half heard tales of what happened to him when he was a child. It had given her nightmare fuel for a month.

"That's very touching," the Sith drawled. He yanked Boba up, causing the man to yell in pain. Leia scrambled to her feet. She ignored the blood all over her, only focused on the trembling man being yanked around. "But neither of you are going anywhere. And if your little Rebellion friends start to come down here, I'll kill them too. Only, I won't use the Force and bring them back to life like I did with your slave. They're not as valuable as he is. Your real mistake was teaching him how to read, you know. And then you let him rest in your bed when you were going over things... He's going to read, you know, and it's a wonder what a man can recall when the love of his life is in danger."

"You don't have to do this." Leia looked the Mirialan square in the eyes. He was younger than she was. Slimmer, too. His face angular and lean. "You don't have to follow them. You're strong enough to make your own way. Help me and I'll find a place where you can be free. It's called Tyre."

"Tyre is a myth and I'm afraid that I do have to do this." The man shrugged some  and waved a hand over Boba's frame. He slumped over. "Don't worry, he's just unconscious. Just like you'll be."

The last thing Leia saw was Boba's unmoving form before the darkness claimed her, too.


	41. A Deal is Made

Boba hurt all over. The last time he'd been injured this bad, he had been forced to fight a series of Farghuls and a few Horansi. He had almost bled out from that battle and had been unable to fight for weeks, thanks to the claws he had taken. He preferred to use blasters for a reason. There was less of a chance that he would get killed if he used a blaster. Fighting felinoid species with only a sword and three vibro-daggers was never a good idea. Jabba had liked seeing it, though. He had been told that he'd been expected to loose, fifty to one. And yet... he had survived. Bloodied. Bruised. Sliced to the bones in several places. He'd lost so much blood on the floor of that arena that they had been forced to give him transfusions and clotters so he could finish out the series.

He tried to tell himself that this wasn't as bad as that. He had Leia. He would have her for as long as she wanted him. He would have warm food at the end of this. A bed to sleep in. Hands to hold him and rub his hair. Someone to rub the bacta into his wounds. He knew he was dreaming with the bacta part, but a man could dream. Or so he hoped. Boba leaned back against the walls of the cell, shivering slightly. You could warm up rock. Metal, though? Cold metal surrounded by the darkness of space? You were better off trying to wring mercy from a rock than to get that warmed up. He sighed softly, moving around. The man ached all over, but that meant that he was still alive. Dead men didn't feel pain. Feeling pain was better than being dead.

Someone marched down the hall and opened up his cell. Boba tensed up, but only a chair was clipped to his slave collar. The guard started yanking on him. A smart remark rose to his lips, but he decided to be intelligent for once and just follow. What else could he do? Boba caught a look of himself in a polished pane of metal and winced. His face was covered in bruises. His hair had been shaved up to the scalp. He had a black eye, his nose was crooked, and his bottom lip was fat. The last group of stormtroopers had really worked a number on him. At least they hadn't asked him for sexual favors. Boba wasn't above biting of a _deece_ or two to prove his point. He was a pit fighter, not a pleasure slave.

Lord Vader himself was looking out a massive plexisteel window. The man seemed bored, as if he was waiting on the galactic storm outside to stop raging, but he turned around after Boba was forced to his knees. He gave Lord Vader a bit of a glare. The Mandalorian man wasn't in the mood for this. Nor was he in the mood to be roughed up even more than he already was. The man gave him a once over. Boba shivered. He wondered just what was behind that mask of his. Vader was draped in black, like some demon creature Yavinese mothers told their kids would grab them if they went out at night. He wasn't sure that he liked looking at this thing, but Vader didn't give him much choice. The rebreather didn't help either. The filters needed to get changed or something like that. It sounded horrible.

"You may leave, Cody." Vader dismissed the trooper with a wave of the hand. Cody gave a sharp salute and walked out. That left Boba and Vader, with the former glaring at the latter. He was not in the mood for this right now. He just wanted to get Leia and go home. Back to Naboo. And get his stupid papers shoved through the system so he could be free of all this _osik_. He knew that Vader could have him sold to Kessel in an instant. The Sith walked around him a few times. "Remarkable. That such a man like you could resist a trained Interrogator and a torture droid."

"Tell Khione that she needs some work," Boba growled. "I've fripped better old women than her!" And not by choice, but he'd been jacked full of stimulants and willing to do anything to get it out of his system. It turned out that an orgasm actually cut through the haze better than anything else. "Your pet attack do already went through my head. Unless you want to know my opinion about arugula salad, I would suggest that you leave well enough alone."

"Brave words for a man wearing a prison jumpsuit and a slave collar," Vader noted. He stopped in front of Boba and it was the weirdest thing. It was like there was a hand settled on his head, only there was nothing there. He used up some. Boba had never been around a Force user before and it did scare him. He... didn't like it. He could use a lightsaber and would like to use one on Mace Windu, but he couldn't. Vader cocked his head some. "You bear a grudge against the Jedi, don't you? They sent you to Kezabeck when you were only twelve and didn't do anything to help you after your father was killed and you were sold into slavery. What if I could help you get your revenge?"

"Windu is dead," Boba spat. He tried to move his hands from where they had been cuffed. The man growled a little at the thought of the dark Jedi. He'd hated the man and had dreamed of killing him more than once. It was one of the reasons why he had trained to be such a good fighter. His sharp hazel eyes glanced around the room. It was dark here. The entire place wreathed in shadows. It smelled far too sterile for this really to be part of a ship. Boba remembered his father joking with someone named Cad Bane about a man with a clean ship having a dirty heart. He tried to blink back the tears at the memory. He forced himself to speak. "I saw the security tapes. Otherwise, I was going to run off and kill him myself."

"What about your detonator?"

"Leia had it removed pretty quick." Boba shrugged a little bit. "I could get out of the collar if I tried hard enough and she never bothered to collar me." She hadn't. Not even a simple collar made of smooth leather, like what pleasure slaves wore. He had been allowed to walk around with a bare throat and it was the most empowering thing of his entire life. "I'm not here to try to chase down a dead man, Lord Vader. Not when someone else did the job for me. I'm a pit fighter, not a battle crazed Cathar."

"I want to offer you a deal," Vader smoothly said. "Your father was the best bounty hunter in the galaxy and you are an exact copy of him. I want you to bring me one Obi-Wan Kenobi and his padawan, Luke Whitesun. If you do that, I will give you back your princess and your ship."

Boba took in a deep breath. He had no idea who this "Obi-Wan Kenobi" was, but he was willing to bet that the Jedi had left a trace of himself. "It's been over twenty years since I last hunted."

Vader opened the shackles with a flick of his wrist. Boba climbed to his feet, fighting against the pain in his ribs. He could do this. He could win this fight. He could get Leia freed. He knew he could. The man stood back after a few minutes. "I will give you a ship, supplies, and a minder you can't bribe. You already met Cody and his men."

"You have a deal." Boba gave him the best crooked grin as he could. But inside, he was screaming. He was good at killing, but not capture and hunting. "I'll need the princess, too." He was going to need the backup.

"Done." Vader turned away. "Do not fail me, Fett. Or I will destroy Naboo."

"Don't worry," Boba assured him. "I'm not going to fail you." Inside, he was panicking. It had been twenty years since he last went on a hunt. How could he be expected to take down two Jedi with only himself, a princess, and a stormtrooper Captain?


	42. What Were You Thinking?

"What the hell were you thinking?" Leia grabbed the ointment from the medical kit and gently trailed her hands over his shoulder. Boba froze up as she touched him, but after a few seconds, he relaxed and whined some. She gently rubbed it into his side. He was covered in a latticework of burns and bruises. He was already covered in scars. The last thing she wanted was for him to be so covered in scars that he could hardly move. Boba was already jumpy and nervous. He didn't like to be touched unless he knew you. When he was with Leia, he was the most touch starved man that she knew. He was worse than Jax and all of the other Senate slaves. Boba draped himself over her and sighed.

"That I needed to get us out of there," Boba quietly said. He sighed and rubbed his face with his good hand. The man gave her a half shrug. Boba relaxed back on the sheets and gave her hand a gentle kiss. Leia shook her head some. He made a pitiful look at her and ducked his head some. "Please, my lady? I... I want you. Not to frip, but just to hold. I think... I think I just need the comfort."

Leia pulled him into her arms and twined a hand through his hair. Boba arched his back up some. He made that happy sound in the back of his throat, the one that he made so few times. The one that she loved hearing. He arched his neck up, like he was baring himself to her. She had no idea why he acted like that or why he suddenly became so vulnerable when she touched his hair, but she loved seeing it. His eyes fluttered closed as she went from rubbing his head to gently rubbing his neck and shoulders. He made another one of his little sounds and went limp against the pillows. Leia helped him roll over so she could get at his back. She gently rubbed down that, just to watch him melt into her hands.

"I love you, you know," Leia whispered. She needed to get the warming oil, he really liked it when she used that on him, but this wasn't a safe time to use the Force. Not when there was an Imperial stormtrooper on the lower decks of their new ship. The _Silver Hawke_ was a sleek Corellian RT-243 corevette. Small, fast, and just one of those ships that everyone saw and no one looked at. It was also tricked out for use as a bounty hunting ship. Boba seemed to think that it used to belong to someone called Cradossk's Cat, but he wasn't sure. Leia gently rubbed his back and spine, enjoying the little moans and sounds he made. Now, she did want to sleep with him, but she had a hard time justifying it in her mind. He was still her slave. He still couldn't tell her no, at least not in his mind.

She didn't even know what he _liked_. This was so not the time for exploring his kinks, though she figured that he had a few of them. It was just the way that he reacted whenever she touched him. Maybe when he was better they would explore sensation play. Touches. Feathers, or maybe ice. Leia knew that he didn't like having his hands tied or cuffed, so she was never going there.

Boba raised his head. With his tousled hair and sleepy dark eyes, he looked adorable and Leia couldn't resist kissing him on the nose. He squawked a little bit, more to just protest the kiss rather than tell her off, but he didn't roll over. He just sat there and looked at her. "I'm not exactly sure what love is," he finally said. "I was so young when my _buir_ died and after that, if Jabba saw me getting close with the older slaves, they were sold or killed. But I know how I feel about you. It's... I don't know. It's hard to describe, just that I don't want to lose you and I don't want to go away."

"What if I sent you free?" Leia countered.

"I'm not leaving." He gave her a crooked grin and kissed her hand. Then he forced himself to get up and grabbed his shirt. The tawny skinned man started putting his clothes on. "But speaking of, we need to figure out how to get those two Jedi off of Tatooine. As much as I hate that place, it's at least easy to find someone. I just don't know how to deal with a Jedi. Much less two." He sighed and grabbed at his boots. "I figure that we only have a few hours until we get to Tatooine. I think we can use that time to study strategy and maybe figure out how to neutralize them."

"You can ask that clone trooper." Leia really didn't like this idea, but she didn't think they had much choice. "I think he was with the old GAR."

"I did. He said to shoot him and hope for the best." Boba rolled his eyes and reached for the blasters he had gotten from who knew where. He needed armor. The armor she had ordered for him was probably sitting on her front porch, getting doused in rain or even stolen. Maybe they could get armor for him on Tatooine. If he was going to play bounty hunter for the Empire, Boba was going to need armor. Right now, he was far too vulnerable for her choice. Boba slipped out of the cabin. Leia followed him. She wasn't quite sure about what was going to happen. The Mandalorian man marched into the galley and started going for the eggs. Leia laughed softly. Cody, the trooper, looked at Boba like he had just grown three heads.

"What are you doing?" Cody asked.

"Raiding the larder. I want breakfast and I'm pretty sure that the lady wants breakfast, too." Boba rooted around in the unit and finally pulled out what looked like a basket of fresh eggs. Leia shook her head some. She wasn't quite sure what was about to happen. The younger man gave Cody a dry look. "I don't like ration bars. I've already lost three teeth from the fights."

"Maybe if you used a toothbrush, you wouldn't have lost your teeth."

"I was in a pit on Tatooine. Fighting for my life. I was happy to get some burnt meat and water. You think I had the chance to take care of my mouth?" Boba asked. He snorted some. "Ask the lady. Ask her how fun it was to get my mouth fixed."

"I'm sure the dentist still has nightmares," Leia said. She shook her head some. The last thing she wanted was a pissing contest on this ship. Boba had already stashed two old footlockers under the bed. She didn't know what was in them and planned to look at the contents later. Leia got up and looked for her own breakfast. Cody sat at the battered table, chewing on a ration bar and drinking milk. Leia grabbed a carton of bacon and a frying pan. She was about to show this man just what real food tasted like. Boba offered her a gentle smile. He seemed to be really relaxed about this. She wasn't sure what he wanted or not. Could he be a bounty hunter? Did he even know how.

The smell of cooking bacon filled the small galley. Cody fidgeted some in the seat. He did look hungry, but he stopped moving after a few minutes and actually sat on his hands. Boba jumped up. He seemed to hate being bored, so he grabbed some sort of white root and started peeling it. He dropped little pieces of the roots, onions, and some spice mix in the bacon grease and gently shooed her away. Leia sat on the counter. She just watched as he cooked. How had Boba learned cooking? He was a slave in the pit fights. How had he learned how to cook? Whatever he was making actually made her start to drool as it cooked. The next thing she knew, Boba had the bowls and he was passing out bowls of food to the both of them.

"What is this?" Cody took another mouthful.

"Tatooine slave hash. I'm missing the goat grease, but the other works fine." Boba gave a suddenly sick looking Cody a grin. Leia snickered some. "And speaking of, trooper, just how do you go about catching a Jedi?"

"You shoot at them." Cody gave Boba a look. "Stunners. Overpower the both of them with blaster bolts and hope that some come through. I have collars in the hold for when we catch them."

Leia felt bad about doing this, but if it helped her save the man she loved, she was going to do this. She still had a feeling about the younger Jedi, though. He was young. Tall. He looked like a happy child, though he wasn't much younger than her. Tousled blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The Master was a shorter man, with auburn hair streaked with grey. Cody shuddered when he saw the man and the Force tried to tell her that there was something there. Leia tried to brush it off, but she couldn't. Cody knew this Jedi. He knew this Jedi _well_. Leia just hoped that Cody could complete the mission. She knew that Boba would, come hell or high water.

He was going to complete that mission or dry trying. The only question was if Cody could do the same.


	43. To Hunt a Jedi

Boba didn't want to go back to Tatooine. This was the stuff that nightmares were made out of, forced to go back to the place where he had almost been killed so many times. Where he had been owned and collared and chained and abused by so many others. Boba shuddered softly as he gathered the clothing he needed. Long pants and a shirt in earth tones with his dark hair pulled out of his face. He still didn't have his armor. And not jetpack, but he did get to get a rocket launcher ordered. That made the Mandalorian man smile in spite of himself. He rather did like the idea of having a rocket launcher. Boba rubbed his arms on his shoulders, trying to calm the fear that he had.

He remembered Mace Windu. How effortlessly the man had killed his _buir_. The hiss and crackle of the lightsaber as it severed his father's head from his shoulders and his scream of fear and terror as his father dropped to the ground like a sack of rocks. And then he had bolted out of the rocks, running pell mell to his father's ships. He was pinned less than seconds later by a terrifying looking woman with a radio transmitter sticking out of her head. The woman called herself Aurra Sing and she said she was with his father. So Boba believed her. And then he was stuffed in a box and sold to one Jabba the Hutt. It was, "I'll trade this slave and a hundred credits for that shiny new ship you have." One of _those_ deals.

And then five days later, he was fighting for his life against an akk-dog.

Boba gripped the counter with white knuckles as the ship touched down. His body still ached from the beatings he'd gotten. It wasn't that they were worse than what he'd gotten on Tatooine, it was just that he was softer now. He was used to no punishments. Or, if he _really_ screwed up, someone telling him what he did wrong and how to fix it. He wasn't struck anymore. He wasn't starved or locked in a closet. Boba was loved and cared for here, but he wasn't in the mode of survival.  He was in the mode of being a bodyguard and smiling pretty for the cameras. He studied the blaster in his hands, memorizing the cool metal and the way it fit in his hands. Leia took him to the firing range at least once a week. But this was a different gun, not the little blaster Leia got him.

This was a serious gun. This was a Clone Wars era blaster that had enough punch to bust a hole in a caravel's hide. Boba swallowed again and holstered the weapon. He had to deal with this. Boba knelt down, lacing up his boots, and he almost hit his head as Cody came into the refresher. The trooper looked old and weary. Like he didn't want to do this. But he said nothing and he only grabbed Boba by the thick collar he was now forced to wear. That came by order of Lord Vader and it had both a transmitter and a tracker on it. That way, they knew Boba wouldn't let the Jedi go and simply give them random ashes. This way, Vader knew that Boba was going to kill the right person.

"It's time." Cody let up enough for Boba to walk and cast a critical eye over the other man. Boba was a little bit shorter than the others, mostly because of how he hadn't been able to get enough feed. He grimaced as he walked down the gangplank. Leia couldn't join this one. It was just too dangerous for her and there was too much of a risk that she would be hurt or killed. The dry heat was like a nightmare as Boba walked. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do. He glanced around, looking at the ramshackle buildings and the way it had been made from local adobe and the few forests Tatooine had. The dust shimmered in the air as they walked.

Tatooine wasn't a big place. There was the one main city, Mos Epsa, and then there was Mos Eisley. You went to Mos Epsa if you wanted to do good business that involved trading the muskwood and the meat. You went to Mos Eisley if you were doing pirate stuff and the slave trade. Boba wished that he wasn't wearing such long clothes, but that was what you had to do to keep the sun off of you. His dark eyes scanned the crowd. Cody moved at a sharp pace, pushing the milling crowd of aliens and humans out of the way. One girl, leading a massive black goat by the beard, made the three pronged protection ward at them as they passed. There was something strange about her, but Boba didn't have the chance to get a better look at her.

He ducked under a red and white striped awning alongside Cody. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do. Cody pulled out a few credits and before they knew what was going on, they were walking away with a sack full of hand grenades and some sort of stun cuffs that just felt _evil_. Now, Boba couldn't feel the Force, but he could tell that things were good or bad just by looking at them. He tried to keep up with the older man. They needed to get out of the city proper. Just to get the job done and get back. Boba was already sweating under the twin suns. The entire glare was making him start to get a headache as he trudged after the older trooper. He could do this. He _would_ do this. He _had_ to do this for Leia.

Cody found a driver and tossed him what looked like a full loaded credit card. "Take me and my slave to the hermit. We'll pay you half here and half when we get back."

The driver, a scarred looking Duros, licking his lips. "Don't know if I should or not. You know the old man don't like getting bothered. He dropped that cliff on those Jawas a few months back, ya know, and the Tusken Raiders leave him the hell alone! You should, too!"

"You will take me there," Cody hissed. "If I have to force you against your will, Duros, I'll do it!"

The red alien threw up his hands. "Hey, hey, hey! No need to get that way! Just give me whatcha got and I'll let you borrow this thing whilst I drink myself silly. I'm not getting involved with this one!"

Cody nodded, gave the man another few credits, and forced Boba in the speeder by the scruff of his neck. He shuddered softly, looking at the thing. Itwas he;d together by duct tape and prayers and there was a rust hole in the floorboards. Why Cody thought this thing was a decent thing to transport a Jedi in, Boba would never know. But he obeyed, as he was trained too, and he sent a silent prayer to the ones up above. He was getting a bad feeling about this.


	44. A Waiting Game

It was all a waiting game now. All Leia had to do was wait until he came back with the Jedi in tow. And then she could go back. Leia was still getting a bad feeling about this, though. Something was starting to set her off and not in a good way. She gritted her teeth as she started down the gangplank of the small ship. It was time. She was going to do her own digging and if that meant she had to play Captain Chaos, she was playing Captain Chaos. She just missed Boba, that was all. She really did miss her love. The young woman took a deep breath as she pulled her cloak over her head and started down the dusty path. They would be okay. She knew they would, but Leia still had to worry.

The town stretched out before her. Dry and washed out as it was. It looked like something out of some strange dream, with the rounded buildings and the turrets. The smooth, white walls that only stayed that way because of slave labor. Leia passed some of those poor wretches as she entered the city. Most of them looked pitiful. She thought there might have been a few Sit Purebloods in the mix, but those scrawny creatures darted away before she could look at them. A Twi'lek male ignored her, but he was too old and too scarred to garner much attention from anyone. One of his lek was just a stump. Leia turned her head, trying not to vomit. He was in pain every day for that. Maybe, if she was a better person, she would have taken him with her.

Maybe. But his amber eyes were cold and hard and she didn't need another Boba. Leia decided to leave well enough alone.

She darted under one of the washed out awnings, trying to make sense of where she was. If the Jedi were here, people would talk. That was how the Empire had found Ferus Olin. He had gotten drunk one night and told a friend what he was. The next day, his husband had been arrested by the Empire. For treason, they said. No one believed the Empire, but what could you do? No lawyer was going to take that case, no matter how much you paid him. It just was not worth it. She swallowed some as she walked into the shop. The owner, a wild looking human woman, paid her no mind as she browsed through what was for sale. It looked like a small collection of turquoise and silver jewelry. She found a bracelet she thought would look great against Boba's skin, so she got that and waited for her next move.

They had gone somewhere over the wastes, she knew that much. And that could mean anywhere from the Dune Sea all the way to Jabba's Palace. Or even that strange, sacred grove place where the locals harvested wood. Leia brushed her hair back behind her ear as she considered her next move. Finding this young Jedi, Luke, was her first priority. Something inside her was telling her that his name was Luke. What it was, she had no idea, but she was going to find out. If he was a local, he wasn't going to be buying things he couldn't afford. Leia grinned softly to herself. She had always wanted to visit a spacer's cantina! So she started back down the main drag, holding the arm bands close. She didn't want those to be stolen.

Tatooine seemed to shimmer under the twin stars. Locals of all kinds thronged the narrow streets. Some were dressed like Tusken Raiders and you couldn't see their faces. Others were robed in the rich, flowing robes of the Star Wanderers. They seemed to float above the ground in their silken robes. A few Twi'ek bounty hunters, dressed simply in halter tops and cargo pants, chatted in the shade beside their weapons. Their sharp eyes followed her, searching her face as if she was their target. Leia hoped all the bounties were on Angel or Fulcrum, not her. She didn't have the right arms and she didn't have Boba with her, either. Having her own private bodyguard really had spoiled her.

The cantina was up a ways from the space port. Just a squat, stone building. Made in the local style with the cedar posts sticking through the stone work. It was low to the ground, built to avoid the heat. Theed City was built to capture heat, rather than avoid it, but that was probably because Naboo was much cooler than Tatooine. Leia entered the cantina and passed the droid a small credit chip. It didn't scan her and didn't make her hand over her blaster. Leia slipped away from it and entered the low slung room. She wrinkled her nose, not liking the scent of tabacc and sour beer that filled the place. This being the middle of the day, she didn't see many patrons.

But she did see a golden haired young man, sitting at a table and nursing what looked like a mug of foam. Something drew her towards him. Leia walked over and sat down opposite of him. The young man ignored her, but she got the strangest feeling crawl over her skin. It was like she was being looked at, but without eyes. Leia tensed. She gritted her teeth and waited for him to speak. He ignored her. He just brushed back his blonde hair and went back to reading his holo mag. Leia thought it was about fencing, of all things. Now why would a local on Tatooine be interested in _fencing_? Only a few families on Arkanis even bothered with that old sport. And even then, it was just for show.

Leia cleared her throat. "Something drew me over here. We need to talk."

"You need to talk." He flipped through his magazine and drank more. "Not me. I'm perfectly fine just to sit here and read." He didn't even look at her, and that was starting to get annoying. Leia cleared her throat again. He must have smiled, because, "There's a free water fountain outside. Might help you with that throat issue you have."

"The Empire is looking for you!" she hissed.

He put down the magazine and grinned. He looked like a farm boy, all innocent and pure. Like he was still a child. "I know," he smiled. "I'm a wanted man in thirteen star systems. What about it."

"I know you're a Jedi," Leia softly said. She leaned over even further. "I was sent on a mission from Lord Vader himself to capture your Master."

" _Fierfek_." He jumped up almost and ran a hand through his hair. "The name's Luke Skywalker. You are?"

"Princess Leia Organa of House Naberrie." This time, Leia smiled at him and his stunned expression. "We don't have much time. A stormtrooper commander, one of the old clones, was sent with my bodyguard to capture your Master."

"And you want the bodyguard alive," Luke guessed. He dropped a credit chip on the worn table and grabbed his cloak. "C'mon. We don't have much time. I love Ben like my father, but he's the fastest draw in town. If we hurry, we might be able to watch the end." He hurried out the cantina, forcing Leia to almost run to keep up with him. She bit her bottom lip as she thought. This might not have been her best idea, but what choice did she have? She had to stop this fight before it even started. She couldn't risk losing Boba to a Jedi. Not after he'd almost been killed by one before. Leia followed him into the rickety speeder he had and held her blaster close. She was getting the feeling she'd need it.

Apparently, they didn't teach driving skills on Tatooine, because Luke almost tossed her out of the speeder on two occasions. That just made her bad feeling worse. And it got especially bad when she got there, just in time to see Boba hurled through the air.


	45. The Attack

Pain exploded across his body. Boba yelled as he was slammed into the rock. It left his head ringing and his body screaming at the impact. Something popped and it wasn't the rock. Starbursts of pain exploded across his vision, making him almost hurl inside his bucket. He just managed to get that thing off before he was losing his lung on the desert sands. Next thing he knew, a blaster bolt scorched his armor. Boba yelled and rolled away. What was he thinking?! He wasn't a bounty hunter! He didn't have the training for this! He was a pit fighter, a gladiator, a _slave_ for the Force's sake! The old Jedi came out of the hut like hell on wheels. Cody tried to take him, but he'd grabbed the clone around the next and started choking him.

Boba forced himself to his feet. He grabbed his blaster and buried a bolt in the man's shoulder. He yelled in pain and lunged at Boba. A sheer wall of energy smacked into him, forcing the man to fall to his knees. His ears started ringing and he spit blood. Boba staggered to his feet, shaking his head like a wet dog. Cody hurled an EMP grenade. The wall of compressed sound made the entire ground shake and plumes of dust filled the air. Boba swore he saw one of the boulders crack and water pour out of it. He dragged himself up, determined not to die in the dust like his father had. And then a hum split the air. The same hum that haunted his nightmares and made him wake up wailing.

Ben stood in front of Cody, deflecting every blaster bolt and burying it in the old clone's armor. His face was screwed up in rage. Boba could have sworn those eyes of his were amber or yellow. The eyes of a Sith, his _buir_ had said. Nine times out of ten, the eyes of a Sith would be a sick yellow rimmed in red. Boba hollered a war cry and charged the man. Ben barely had time to react. Boba tackled him and pummeled his face, his chest, his belly with his fist and his blaster butt. The pain only stunned Ben for a second. He flung Boba away from him with the Force. Boba forced himself up again with the dogged nature of a man used to pain. Blood might have streamed from various open wounds, but he didn't care. He lunged at Ben again, this time hurling a grenade at his feet.

The Jedi turned around and Boba felt his throat close up. He fell to his knees, clawing at it, trying to get air into his lungs. When someone tried to do this in the ring, he could elbow them in the gut. Here, there was no one but empty air. The man clawed at himself, his nails coming away red with blood. Fat drops of the stuff fell to the ground. The air filled with a familiar coppery tang. Boba fell to his sides, still struggling. Black spits danced in front of his eyes and he thought he could hear a battle. It was like a fire raged inside his chest, his lungs demanding air from a throat that couldn't give it. Boba writhed in the dirt, his face streaming tears. His father had died like this, killed by a Jedi.

Maybe that was his fate, too.

The grip on his throat vanished. Boba curled into a ball, taking in great gasps of air into starving and greedy lungs. He didn't move for a few long minutes. The hot sun might have been beating down on him and he could see the heat rising from the ground, but he wasn't moving. Not until he got some air in his lungs. He moaned softly, not caring who heard it. Boba raised his head. He came face to face with a pulsating blue blade. Boba's eyes went very wide. He didn't bother to move. Just he;d stock still as that blade was lowered into his face. He could feel the heat off it now. The blade was too bright to look at, yet it filled his entire field of vision. He didn't try to move. He just stayed there and let the Jedi do his thing.

"Princess Leia, you would do well to rein in your attack dogs!" The Jedi turned away and doused the blade. Boba forced himself to his knees, only then feeling the full brunt of his injuries. Maybe he yelled a little louder than he should have. But it was worth it to have Leia rush to his side and offer him water. He leaned his head against her thigh gratefully. Did he care that he was ruining the silk with blood and dirt? Not one bit. She was a princess and she could always buy a new pair of pants. Not like Boba, who was forced to rely upon her for everything. He took a shuddering breath and spat a wad of blood on the ground. He could see Cody. The old man was watching Ben like he was... well, someone he used to know.

"General Kenobi?" the old trooper asked. He got to his feet and removed his bucket. Boba brushed his sweaty hair out of his eyes. 'Kenobi' didn't look that old. His auburn hair was streaked with grey, yes, and he was a little darker than he used to be, but he still looked young. The man still looked like he could kick _shebs_ and take names. Cody lowered his blaster. "You... you're still alive!"

"I was the last time I checked," Kenobi retorted. He lowered his weapon and glanced over at a blonde. Boba cringed as he saw the man. Why was he thinking about Duchess Satine and how she had exiled so many Southern Mandalorians? Simply for the crime of not being onboard with her? The Jedi walked over to the trooper and touched the scar that gashed down his face. "You tried to kill me, Commander. After... what we had done the night before. I would ask you to forgive me for not trusting you, but I'm beyond being the Negotiator now. I do hope you'll understand...?" Going by the way he looked at Cody, those two had a history. Boba leaned on Leia as she helped him up.

He could suss out what was going on later. He just followed the others into the hut and relaxed when they were under the cool stone. He sagged back on a leather couch gratefully and didn't even fuss as Leia removed some of his clothes so she could tend to his wounds. He did notice that when her hands brushed against his ribs, he didn't hurt so much. Boba didn't really care about that, though. He just curled up and let her fuss over him. It felt good and anything that healed the pain was good enough for him. He'd been in agony enough times in his life that he wasn't letting her get away now. Why Leia even looked at him was something Boba didn't know.

That was why he caught her wrist and kissed over the pulse point. It was a promise of more to come, if she wanted it.


	46. A Fleeting Pleasure

Leia didn't want to leave him. Boba was injured, badly injured, and it was _all her fault_. She was the one who decided they needed to make that trip and contact the Rebellion, not him. He would have been happy to stay on Coruscant, smiling softly and letting her touch his hair. He liked that. Some could get touchy about their hair, especially if it had been used to hurt them. Leia didn't know if she could deal with that or not. Boba trusted her, though. He trusted her enough to curl up in his lap as Obi-Wan and Cody made out in the corner. Luke had already left to go fix something out in the machine shed. That left Leia and Boba to keep themselves quiet in the main house.

She knew a little bit about healing from Ferus Olin. He'd taught her enough to fix a twisted ankle or set a bone before he was dragged off by the Empire. How they knew he was a Jedi, she didn't know. Ferus hadn't been the best teacher in the galaxy, bound up as he was in the past and all the battles he fought in. But for a young girl, those had been thrilling. Especially when he taught her how to levitate rocks. Leia tried to practice when she could, but the Empire would have hunted her down, too. She couldn't risk it. Now that she had Boba, she couldn't risk getting him sold. The Empire would have trashed his papers the moment they thought she was a Rebel. Well, she was now.

Leia glanced around the small house, taking in the warm browns and tans that dominated the space. The entire thing had been hollowed out from a boulder with chunks cut in the rock and covered in oil paper to let in the light. Those panes could be moved to provide airflow if the people inside wanted it. A plush anooba hide served as a rug in front of the worn sofa. Books and holocrons crowded the shelves, along with crawling plants. It even looked like Obi-Wan had rigged this place to use solar and geothermal power. It blended into the landscape, too. Leia knew for a fact that the Empire couldn't find it unless they happened to stumble across the barnyard. And even then, Obi-Wan just looked like a farmer with his goats and nunas.

Boba mumbled as he pushed himself up. "Did you learn any of that Jedi stuff?" he softly asked. "I swear you used the Force on me." He shook his head, dark curls flying as he took a deep breath. "I wish I coulda had you with me in the ring. Woulda made all that stuff bearable." Boba groaned softly and looked up to her. "The guards were too afraid of me to touch me. Most of the time."

"I'm sorry." Leia threaded her hand through Boba's hair. This was all her fault. The Rebellion's fault. The Republic and the Empire. The Empire sold slaves in the streets and the Republic made you go to the dock yards. And the Rebellion? They used supplies from places with slave labor. The weapons from Kamino weren't made by free people. They were made by enslaved clones or even tested on them. She had seen the footage of such a test, just like most of the galaxy had. The Empire had tried to take that thing down, but there were copies of it all over. The public was upset for about a month before bolo-ball season started and everyone was rooting for their favorite teams. No one cared about the clones.

"Don't blame yourself," Boba softly said. He pressed another kiss to her wrist, his eyes oddly bright. Boba gave her one of his rare, full smiles and pulled her close. "I completed the mission from Lord Vader. I found Master Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. He never said I had to come back or bring them to him..."

Leia laughed softly and shook her head. "It looks like you reunited two old lovers." She pressed a kiss to his willing lips. Leia wouldn't go very far. His ribs were still hurting him and besides, she owned him. It wouldn't be right. Boba may have gotten his way one or two times, but he couldn't keep doing that. She had to make sure he understood that it wasn't right and she couldn't use him like that. Yet.... Boba responded to the kiss eagerly, twining his hands on her long, dark hair. He loved her hair. He loved combing it, loved wrapping his fingers up in it when they kissed, loved just touching it when he wanted to touch it. Leia didn't mind him doing that. Boba deserved the comfort.

"Stars, you're the best thing that ever happened to me," Boba whispered. He looked up at her with awe and adoration in his eyes. "I don't know what you saw in me. I mean, you're a princess. You could have the finest.... well, anything you wanted, and you chose _me_." He swallowed, as if working things out for himself. "I don;t know what you saw in a broken slave from Tatooine."

"I saw a man." Leia kissed him in the hollow of his throat, right where he liked it. Boba groaned, pressing his body against hers. She nipped him there, making him groan just a little bit more. "I saw a man with a lot of pain in his eyes but still the spark to get through all that." She kissed his wrists next, before letting him slide off his shirt. Boba had a thing for what she was about to do. Leia stroked his chest with one hand, taking in the want and need from his eyes. "I saw a man who had seen hell and didn't let it stop him." She stroked his nipple for a few seconds before pinching just lighting.

" _Leia_ ," Boba whispered. "You keep doing that and I'll ruin my pants."

"I know." Leia swallowed his words in a kiss and was able to drown out the rest of the galaxy, just for a little bit.

**Author's Note:**

> Much thanks for FettsOnTop for letting me expand/torture this prompt! I hope this is as good as the one shot is!
> 
> Also: I tend to update things once a week IF that. I shall try, but my updates are usually rather slow at best. I'm sorry, I try, but I do have a very hectic real life. Four horses and college take up a lot of time, ya'll


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